Back in the 15th Century, I always had toe clips and straps on my bikes. It takes a while until you loosen them without thinking before a stop, but it soon becomes second nature. I really like them for the feeling of security they give to your feet. On the electric bike (which has flat, shiny city-shoe-friendly pedals), I daren't stand up to push, as I am frightened of my feet slipping off. The Galaxy has what we used to call 'half toeclips', which grip the front of the foot without a strap to the sides. I was a bit wary of them, but in fact they are fine and I can ride 'en dansant' quite happily. I'll probably get some proper clips 'n' straps eventually, just because I am retro. I like the idea of clipless for a bike used purely for fitness riding, but I'm put off by the expense of buying shoes and clips to match, and I like to be able to wear different shoes on the bike. I have a resurrected pair of Avocet cycling shoes which are like suede trainers with a stiffened sole, and they are excellent, but ordinary trainers are fine too.
One small advantage of being attached to the pedal rather than just resting your foot on it, is that you can turn the pedals either way without taking a foot off. If you stop for example and want to move the pedal to a position for moving off, you can do exactly that in one movement. If you want to change gear while stationary, you can just lift the back wheel off the ground and turn the pedals round while the mechanism changes, rather than push off in a high gear and then have to change down quickly. In city traffic, this is surprisingly useful.
