Your mode of transport and why

[Noah Pinder]

I feel certain people (especially those in my home town) travel in a car when they would love riding a motorcycle, or take public transport only to prefer a Skyline (I have heard that is a type of car)

An example. I ride a KLR650 but right now I am mostly around town. Really I should be on a cruiser of some sort. Why I ride a KLR 650 is because on a whim I can take the dirt track up to my friends place or pack the bike choc a block full of stuff to help a friend move house. I would not be able to do that on a cruiser.

So people of the Escapist. What type of transport do you use and why?

 

[tilmoph]

95% of the time, my feet. It's the cheapest, gods know I could use the exercise, I really, really hate driving, and living in a small town sorta rural area, public transit is more of a bad joke than anything useful.

For the other 5%, whatever ride I can hitch with someone.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

I ride the bus mostly because I currently don't have a car.

I live in a decent sized metro area, that being the Reno/Sparks, NV area and the bus coverage while good... Tends to be rather inconvenient and the bus stops are often too far away from things for my liking. Especially because I have arthritis in most of my joints and I can't walk too far.

 

[Sleepy Sol]

I spend most of my time on campus, so generally it's my feet. My university has a pretty small campus so it's generally not a problem to walk everywhere. For going home on weekends or traveling anywhere, I've got a car to drive myself around, and it's not a shabby one either.

Though I don't really care about the age or condition of my car as long as it functions.

 

[Julius Terrell]

I take the bus for the most part unless I don't have a ride, then I run home. I used to live in the D.C./Maryland area where the public transit is some of the best in the country. I now live in a small city in Florida where public transportation is a joke. I mean most of the population drives so the interest in public transportation is pathetic at best.

I guess I just got used to riding public transit. I don't care to own a car, despite the freedom it offers. I'd rather just ride the bus and walk. What's so bloody wrong with that now-a-days? People act like there is something wrong with you if you don't want a car in today's society. It's pretty sickening when the rest of the world still rides bikes and walks. Oh the US certainly has to be different with its car culture.

 

[Marter]

Car, public transit, bicycle. Depends where I'm going and how fast I need to get there. I'm driving more nowadays but that's come down to a couple of ankle injuries (and winter) that made public transit or cycling unfeasible.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

Generally car. I did pay for the thing and it's actually fun to drive, especially when it snows, which it has been this entire month of February.

I take the bus for the most part unless I don't have a ride, then I run home. I used to live in the D.C./Maryland area where the public transit is some of the best in the country. I now live in a small city in Florida where public transportation is a joke. I mean most of the population drives so the interest in public transportation is pathetic at best.

I guess I just got used to riding public transit. I don't care to own a car, despite the freedom it offers. I'd rather just ride the bus and walk. What's so bloody wrong with that now-a-days? People act like there is something wrong with you if you don't want a car in today's society. It's pretty sickening when the rest of the world still rides bikes and walks. Oh the US certainly has to be different with its car culture.

Safety is another issue. I take it upon myself to give rides to whoever wants one after a coworker from a previous job of mine got jumped on his way home. Then there's the brutal cold we've been getting. It gets deep into negatives when you factor in windchill. That's dangerous to be out in for 10 minutes, let alone the hour or so it might take to walk home.

Also, I hate planning extensively. It's nice to just be able to grab my keys and go. I suppose that's the freedom you're talking about, but yeah, it's nice.

 

[Julius Terrell]

I do understand the safety issue. Florida has some of the highest rates of pedestrian accidents/fatalities. Even then living in Maryland I dealt with walking home in negative temps. It's no fun at all. I just wish people wouldn't look at me like I'm a loser for not owning a car. It frankly makes me sick. Excuse me If I'm actually part of the very small percentage of the population that actually walk anywhere since most of the nation is too fat walk to their mailbox.

 

[Boris Goodenough]

Bicycle, because it's the easiest and cheapest. Train when I have to go further.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

I have an XJ600 (A 'classic', not 'old' 1986 model) ... I spend at least 1/12th of my life riding about on my motorbike, and in that 8.3~% of my life is the only time I feel alone. Without necessity to do things for others, I don't need to share my time, my life, with anybody but myself. Me and the machine are as one. Indivisible, one consciousness, where both me and my bike are a match of perfect harmony. With nothing but the roar of the motor and the wind.

It's bliss ... you're finally alone with your thoughts ... and you're not sitting in some environmentally controlled bubble surrounded by steel, plastic and glass. It's you and the world. Walls of air, walls of water, or sleet, I don't care.

Given what I love about motorcycles, I don't want to tarnish that when I'm merely bouncing about the cityscape though. So I take buses and trains in the city. But I always make it a point of order to go visit my friends or locales outside Sydney, to give me an excuse to open up on a country road.

I'll likely die being run off the road, or hit, by a car doing the wrong thing given how often I take my treks on country roads ... but the way I see it, I have very few unadulterated pleasures in the world. I'd be far more empty without it.

 

[DementedSheep]

The places I go to regularly are either within 30 minute walking distance or in central city where parking is F-ing expensive so my main modes of transportation are my feet and the train.

 

[Zontar]

Car, always my car. Closet public transit is 5 clicks away and only has a single outbound bus at 6am and single inbound bus at 6pm, which simply does not work for anything I do. That's before taking into account there is nowhere to park my car at said bus stop either.

 

[Twintix]

I'm a country rat, and the bus schedule sucks (I get one bus in the morning and three in the afternoon. That's it), so car is pretty much the only option when you live here and have as many activities as I do. There is a convinience store a few kilometers away, though, and in the summer, I always take my bike there.

 

[Summerstorm]

A mix of Bus and my hated enemy: My Volvo 740 (Hey, it's only 27 years old - and there are only 2 red lights on when i start it.)

Fun fact: Everybody in my family does have a 740. (My Father found they are the best car to repair, have cheap parts and are very durable). So my Sister, my brother-in-law, my father, one of my nephews, and me all have one.

 

[Yuno Gasai]

It depends on where I'm going.

If I'm going to work, it's my car. Public transport won't get me to my workplace.

If I'm going to town, I'll take the train.

If I'm going to another city, I'll either drive or take the train (depending on where I'm going). I don't like city driving.

 

[Michel Henzel]

I mostly take my bicycle as I don't often need to go further then 20KM, which is easily doable. I do own a car though, but for such short distances I would rather save gas as it is kinda expensive. Though I'll take the car if it's raining a lot. I don't take the bus or train unless I have no other options, I really don't like public transportation, I like the privacy and comfort of my own car more, not to mention the fact that public transportation is really really expensive here. It's cheaper for me to take the car then a bus, and I don't need to walk and wait at a busstop and can get out right infront of my destination(mostly). So yeah, no real incentive for me to take a bus.

 

[laggyteabag]

I walk. I can't drive yet (but I am learning), and I hate bicycles. Public Transport irritates me too, so I just end up walking everywhere I need to go, not that I ever need to go far anyway.

 

[major_chaos]

By car my work is ~25 minutes away and college is ~45 both of those at speeds between 45MPH and 60MPH with very little traffic and public transportation sucks around here so car is really my only option. And when its -30 or 110 degrees outside I'm very glad for that.

 

[Colour Scientist]

I pretty much walk everywhere.

I live in a city so driving is pointless and expensive. I don't like the bus that much and walking is great exercise.

I do a two hour round trip to work everyday.