I think you should go to Asian countries. You should realize that everyone still mostly drives cars there. I live in Asia, and no one is riding bicycles. A lot of people ride public transportation, but that's because of traffic congestion and lack of parking, just like people do in big cities in the U.S. The idea of Asian bicycle country comes from the 1970s cultural revolution China, when no one there could actually afford a car. In China these days, everyone drives cars now or takes public transportation. In Asia, gas prices are MUCH higher than the U.S. but everyone still buys and drives cars. Your logic that there is some sort of conspiracy to drive up gas prices is just silly. The main reason that gas prices go up is that oil companies set the prices and will do anything to find a reason to charge more. It is called capitalism. If you owned a business you would want people to pay more for your product wouldn't you? However, in some countries, the government controls gas prices and won't let the oil companies charge too much. So get lower prices by something called Socialism.
I often use the analogy to my college students in Asia, "It's like riding a bicycle" however, the analogy fails because I learn more than 50% have never learned how to ride a bike. The street are too congested to allow safe bike riding, so their parents never permitted it.
