Originally Posted by digs
the area/school would be MIT... thanks for the replies thus far...
That's pretty much a no-brainer. Ditch the car. MIT has limited parking, so you'll either be searching for an (elusive) spot and worrying about tickets or damage or paying for parking which is also a hassle and quite expensive to boot.
If you really need a car to haul something. zipcar.com has a bunch of cars around here (I'm basically at MIT, BTW.)
As far as the ride, assuming you are somewhere around Cambridge/Somerville, it's not too bad. The roads can be rough but Cambridge has actually done a lot of repaving and they're getting better. I ride from the end of the bike path to MIT and what was an absolute joke earlier this year is now much better. Nice, even.
A ton of people bike commute to MIT, so you won't be alone or anything close to it. A bike is probably the fastest to get around Cambridge.
Keep in mind that once the snow is on the ground, you're probably going to be primarily on the T. Cold aside, ice starts to stay on the ground and on the sides of the road.