And they were 90% correct. Only about 10% of the working population could/would be taking advantage of pedestrian or bicycle transportation, at best. As a manufacturing engineer, working in industrial areas, and having a wife working at a hospital, the prospect of living within walking/biking ranges for our jobs and being a place we would want to live is very small. Near zero when we had children. Plus, jobs change. I would hate to be limited to biking ranges when looking for work.
But I did move relatively close to our jobs, less than 8 miles for each. No fricken way I would bike back and forth to work (too hot and too much water of time) and asking my wife to do so would be comical.
Also, what about people with disabilities? What about people living near a major employer that shuts down or moves? It's easy to have this fantasy idea of people walking to their jobs but practical considerations make it practically impossible.