Originally Posted by
PaulH
In my case, gas cost had nothing to do with it. It was all the scarcity of parking spaces and the congestion of roads. My bottom line was that cycling was more convenient than driving. Even though I was not a recreational cyclist, I concluded that I should start riding to work.
The value of cycling is that it can substitute quite well for driving over short distances. Unlike carpooling, and mass transportation, it does not require any social or attitudinal changes.
Paul
Same here. I have a good job and can afford gas. I even have two cars, but don't commute in either. It's just that L.A. traffic sucks so much that it takes me the same amount of time, and sometimes less to ride my bike to work. Then when I get here, I have to battle for street parking for about 15 minutes, while with my bike, I just wheel it in and park next to my desk.
I'm kind of glad traffic is bad here though (mostly), because if it weren't, I might've never tried riding to work, and now I can't really go back to driving for daily commutes, even if traffic is light. It's just too fun and keeps me healthy.