I need a reliable source of transportation for getting back and forth to school?

Question

Public transportation and carpooling are options that I would only consider as last resorts. I have a car, but its not in good shape. I don't have a lot of money to replace it. I was thinking of getting a scooter or maybe a moped, but I don't know very much about them. How hard is it to learn to ride? My school is about a 30 minute ride by car (20 miles). I'd be there 3 days a week. I have less then 1200 to spend on this. Can anyone think of any better options? Oh, and it snows during the winter where I live. I'd need this source of transportation to be possible to use even when its bad weather.

Answer 1

Well most folks avoid two wheeled transportation while it's snowing... so that pretty much eliminates the most reliable form of transportation - a bicycle.  20 miles is pretty far.  I guess you could go moped or scooter and take public trans in the winter?

Hmm... seems like the best thing -if this is even possible is move closer to school!!!  Ouch.  Sorry but what choice do you have?  The car is just going to suck all your money away and give you very little in return.

Tough one!

Answer 2

Bike, transit or get a boyfriend that has a car... Lol.

$1200 isn't much, you might get a used moped, but they're not always the safest or the most reliable. You really can't use a moped on busy roads, snow, rain, ice or even really windy days. Not to mention you'd freeze in the winter. 20 miles is a tad far for a moped. But they are quite easy to ride and very popular in places with a fewer cars.

Biking might be for you, or atleast in good weather. Get some fresh air, good excercise and you get to whiz by all the traffic too.

A car will kill you on gas money. I'd avoid it unless you had to.

Maybe consider transit again. It's probably the most viable option. If you bike or moped, you'll either have to use transit or drive in winter or bad weather. I take transit to and from school all the time. Well, I do get much better service in Calgary than many other cities, but my ~15mil journey only takes 25 minutes by transit (or 18 minutes by car). It's not as bad as people make it out to be. Travel with a friend, makes it a lot more fun.

Either that, or car pool. Meet some nice people who go to school with you can car pool. Saves on gas too. You just have to work out your schedules.