All well and good if you can afford to live in a city. Commuted by bike for a decade. Commuted by train+bike for a few years. I honestly never wanna get on a bike again. Maybe a train if it’s fast.
There are less obvious costs to living outside a city, especially if the city has transit. All the car costs, for one relevant example. The health loss from walking less. The isolation takes a toll. The shallower social pool. Fewer cultural options.
Also it’s not like apartments are dirt cheap in the suburbs outside NYC. I could pay $2000/mo for a nice apartment in Plainsfield, NJ… or I could pay a similar amount, not have a car, and live someplace where stuff happens.
Not sure what you want me to do about that. Most cities are overpriced because of corpo-controlled properties and greedy private landlords. Biking as commute option is only viable if you live in a large urban area.
All well and good if you can afford to live in a city. Commuted by bike for a decade. Commuted by train+bike for a few years. I honestly never wanna get on a bike again. Maybe a train if it’s fast.
There are less obvious costs to living outside a city, especially if the city has transit. All the car costs, for one relevant example. The health loss from walking less. The isolation takes a toll. The shallower social pool. Fewer cultural options.
Also it’s not like apartments are dirt cheap in the suburbs outside NYC. I could pay $2000/mo for a nice apartment in Plainsfield, NJ… or I could pay a similar amount, not have a car, and live someplace where stuff happens.
“afford to live in a city” is such a violently american sentence it just gave me heartburn
Not sure what you want me to do about that. Most cities are overpriced because of corpo-controlled properties and greedy private landlords. Biking as commute option is only viable if you live in a large urban area.
I started commuting by bike. I’ve never enjoyed commuting more.
Not all cities are expensive, and they usually offer higher wages to compensate.
Enjoy it while you enjoy it.
Your experience is not universal. As my dad has done before me, I will bike my entire life and will always enjoy it more than driving
I drove for 2 years hating every single commute.