Bicycles were heavily used for transportation before cars at least in those countries where they were available at reasonable cost. Anecdotal, but my grandpa and his pals ride bicycles their whole youth and even later, got his driver's license when he was 50, and didn't give a about any environmental issues (though he was no fan of consumerism and made pretty much everything he needed himself and overall preferred simple life, but also deeply hated "those hippies who can't actually do anything useful with their hands", which still characterizes 99 percent of the so called environmentalists...). Back then the distances were smallish, usually under 30 km which made bike the most convenient way for travelling.

I see nobody recognizing that bikes need pretty good roads to be efficient. That was the main reason to prefer walking in some areas even if you had a bike.