Short urban commutes in winter are not an issue (or shortish commutes in Scandanavian high density population areas)... it's the idea of long commutes in rural areas and/or long commutes in rural areas during winter that is not just inconvenient but actually quite dangerous.
I don't think anyone is suggesting that some farmer switches to cycling to shop. Most of these articles are talking about people living in/near the cities. The average commute is 6 miles or so which is short enough to cycle just fine.
> commutes in rural areas during winter that is not just inconvenient but actually quite dangerous.
Not if you build the infrastructure for it and maintain it.
Where I live 20km from Stockholm it’s pretty common to ride year round at least. That’s around 45min to 1h. It’s definitely not very dense the first 10km, but no exactly rural either. Infrastructure is good though with separate bike paths more or less door to door, and some bike lanes once you reach the city limits (though not as good as class leading Copenhagen).
