There has been much debate in America over the years on how to integrate bicycling into urban transit. There is debate among cyclists about the value of multi-use-paths (MUPs). This article seems to draw the current trend, to design cycle oriented transit towards a typical user being a sixty year old woman with groceries.

http://www.humantransit.org/2010/04/can-we-all-cycle-the-last-mile.html

I like the mention of the “bike station” — bike rental at bus stations. Unfortunately, the notion of renting standard safety bicycles might not be as useful as renting folding transit bicycles (which addresses current bus+cycle loop issues highlighted in the article) — or recumbent tricycles, which are less physically challenging and thus more appealing to older riders.