It’s tough… I enjoy biking places when I have the time and the weather permits, but most of the time a vehicle is the way to go in my neck of the woods at least.

I need to transport a bunch of tools with me so driving to work is required but if I didn’t then I’d probably invest in an e-bike and use that most of the time to commute (need an e-bike to handle the winter paths here) instead of public transport. Where I am the car is super hard to beat most of the time though, and most people aren’t willing to brave the elements or own and store an e-bike as the alternative.

Let me use my commute to work as an example:

The walk is too long (a bit over an hour) and you’re in the elements the whole time, and forget about getting groceries or something on the way home from work. Biking would take about 20-25 mins but now I’m still exposed to the elements and have a similar limited carrying capacity as with walking, and will need to invest the couple of thousand in an e-bike (let’s hope it doesn’t get stolen while it’s locked up outside) to manage the winter paths. Public buses take about 45 mins (the schedules line up for my path to work, otherwise it’s twice as long), cost about the same as the fuel/maintenance on a vehicle ($3/trip), I need to be dressed to stand/walk in the elements for much longer than driving, and if I’m running 5 mins late I can end up being an hour late (gotta wait for the next bus) instead of just 5 mins, never mind turning back if I forgot something etc… I only ever use the bus when my vehicle is in for repairs and it’s either pouring rain or winter, otherwise the bike beats it every time.