I recently moved to a moved to a big US city and promptly sold my car. I can’t stand the stress of driving, parking, or maintaining a car in the city and I am also extremely frugal.
My preferred method of getting around is to ride my bicycle, but there are important considerations (bike lanes and infrastructure, weather, potentially getting really sweaty). I’ve had the same $250 bicycle since 2007 and it requires very minimal upkeep. I’ve replaced the tires once and gotten a few tune-ups here and there… probably another $250 in the past 7 years, averaging 3 rides/week.
I like cycling because it forces me to get a little bit of exercise every day; setting aside separate time for exercise always feels like such a waste, and I like making my commute do double duty as fitness. Also, if something breaks on a bike it is usually pretty obvious, cheap, and easy to fix. I like that am not beholden to any specialist/mechanic.
If I need to go far, I will ride it to the nearest bus stop, stow the bike on the front of the bus, and hop off the bus near enough to pedal to my destination without breaking a sweat. The bus is great too; I see all sorts of people I wouldn’t otherwise know existed, and I use the transit time for leisure activities (usually reading).
I recently moved to a moved to a big US city and promptly sold my car. I can’t stand the stress of driving, parking, or maintaining a car in the city and I am also extremely frugal.
My preferred method of getting around is to ride my bicycle, but there are important considerations (bike lanes and infrastructure, weather, potentially getting really sweaty). I’ve had the same $250 bicycle since 2007 and it requires very minimal upkeep. I’ve replaced the tires once and gotten a few tune-ups here and there… probably another $250 in the past 7 years, averaging 3 rides/week.
I like cycling because it forces me to get a little bit of exercise every day; setting aside separate time for exercise always feels like such a waste, and I like making my commute do double duty as fitness. Also, if something breaks on a bike it is usually pretty obvious, cheap, and easy to fix. I like that am not beholden to any specialist/mechanic.
If I need to go far, I will ride it to the nearest bus stop, stow the bike on the front of the bus, and hop off the bus near enough to pedal to my destination without breaking a sweat. The bus is great too; I see all sorts of people I wouldn’t otherwise know existed, and I use the transit time for leisure activities (usually reading).