I've noticed London is a huge outlier when I visit. I haven't seen the same level of cycling elsewhere in the country. I would hazard a guess it's to do with the amount of rental bikes, how they're setup, and the huge amount of tourists who are unlikely to be bringing their car on holiday. It's nice to see.
I'm from Leeds, and while the council has been putting in (some decent, some bad) bike lanes across the city center, I rarely see other cyclists on them. Just the odd commuter and tons of delivery cyclists.
> (some decent, some bad) bike lanes across the city center
Looking at cities like London or Paris there are two thresholds which need to be reached: 1. the infrastructure needs to be consistent and safe-feeling enough that the average resident doesn't feel like they're going to risk their lives at any point; and 2. the infrastructure needs to be widespread enough that they can do the things they need without having to think about it too much. "Surveys show that the lack of safe and contiguous infrastructure is a primary reason why most people don't ride more" (https://momentummag.com/biking-work-barrier-americans/)
That's pretty visible in Paris: there have been rental bikes since 2007, and they've been pretty popular and expanding, but it's as the infrastructure expansions of the bike plans started connecting properly that cycling really exploded.
A hodge-podge of disconnected bits is never going to succeed, because it fails on both safety and utility.
I'm from Leeds, and while the council has been putting in (some decent, some bad) bike lanes across the city center, I rarely see other cyclists on them. Just the odd commuter and tons of delivery cyclists.
I'd agree on all your points.