From: Close-in SE Portland

To: Downtown

Bad weather: #14 Hawthorne bus

Good weather: Bicycle (Breezer 7-speed, with wide tires, upright posture and shock absorber seat; designed for the over 50 set…)

Daytime in-town appointments: Walk

Daytime out of town appointments: Flexcar (business account)

Daytime out of town personal errands: Flexcar (personal account)

Monthly cost: negligible. My employer provides me with a TriMet pass and a Flexcar account (for work-related daytime travel). I don’t do many personal errands during the day, so I typically don’t have much of a Flexcar tab.

The bike has internal gearing, so it requires little maintenance. Here’s a summary of my monthly transportation expenses (after buying the bike):

Parking: $0

Gas: $0 (included w/Flexcar’s hourly rate)

Car insurance: $0 (included w/Flexcar’s hourly rate)

Car payment: none

Maintenance: none

Bus pass: $0 (employee benefit)

I lived this way (a bike & a bus pass; no personal car) from when I was 16, until three months ago, when my second daughter was born, and Amanda and I bought our first car. We’re looking forward to selling it once both our girls no longer need car seats.