This is what I would do, unless your friend is already fediverse knowledgeable. If you have knowledge about what subreddit they enjoyed the most you can use the community browser to find what instance has the largest similar community and show them that. https://browse.feddit.de

It makes sense from their perspective but still kinda shitty.

The real question I think is will Reddit retaliate back and forcibly recover communities and install new mods?

I am totally for more cycling… but imo from a policy perspective in most cities we just need more public transit and maybe some more bike lanes in areas they could help.

As someone who once HAD to commute for a 45 minute car ride to work… not all commutes work with this. Public transit can help with a lot of those, but unless we rezone and rebuild most cites for shorter commutes, it won’t replace all cars.