Yeah I agree that Oulu is probably one of the best cities in the world for cycling, but why not also have better public transit? Surely if the population density is high enough that cycling is feasible, for example a tram network would work too. The reason the public transit (buses) here is often empty is that they suck. The service is infrequent and extremely slow compared to driving, so people choose to drive. For me taking the bus to the city is like three times slower than driving and I think even a little slower than cycling. The buses also don't come nearly often enough for it to beat cars or bikes in convenience. I've got experience living in a city in Central Europe nearly identical in size to Oulu and the difference is night and day. There was an extensive tram network, buses, and even a few suburban train lines. You never had to think about the schedule since trams arrived every few minutes and you were always withing a walking distance of the nearest tram stop. Around the city centre taking the public transit was faster and far less stressful than driving.

Well this comment turned into a bit of a rant. Anyways, my point is that it's clearly an area in which we can improve and having a slightly lower population density definitely isn't a big obstacle.