I rode to a cyclotouring meeting the other night in an 8″ snowstorm. (I have a personal thing against driving to cycling events.) I’ve got a great halogen headlight as well as 2 flashing taillights and several reflectors, and had an amazing ride that night on my mountain bike. Earlier that day I went for a 23 mile ride on my road bike (equipped with 700×28 “winter” tires) just as the snow was approaching. The ride was to check out the waterfalls north of where I live, which was a spectacular view. I could have driven, but where’s the adventure in that? I know… it probably seems crazy, but when someone once asked how I started riding in winter, my reply was “I just didn’t stop riding after summer!” I have to make life interesting somehow!

Andy: Definitely! It’s easy to just look at the sticker price on the car (or a gallon of gas), but it’s hard to factor in maintenance and opportunity costs. It’s even harder to connect those with how frequently you drive, so as you say it seems to cost less every mile that you drive.

Now that Maggie and I are down to one car, the inconvenience factor mitigates that somewhat.

I agree that buses tend not to work well unless you have a regular schedule. If you’re not used to the system, it’s too hard to figure out how long it’ll take you to get anywhere, especially if you have to change buses.

On the other hand, I’m so glad that I could take the bus yesterday rather than having to walk or bike through the snow! I also managed to get pretty far along in Paul Krugman’s latest book, which was nice.

Buses are great, but other than the occasional ride or the dedicated bus commuters, I don’t think buses work well for most others. As you said, to get on and off several times costs more and requires more waiting. For those looking for many stops, carsharing becomes a good option too. After my experiences with walking and biking to work, I would never live in a place that would require a drive or bus trip.