It’s freezing by Charlotte standards, which for me means I took the bus instead of bicycling to the office today. I have a bus stop about a mile from my house, which with a ~25 minute bus ride makes my door to door commute time about 35 minutes. That’s only about 5 minutes more than my drive time of 30 minutes.
Riding public transportation can be an interesting experience for someone like me who didn’t grow up with it. It’s something that participants in the auto-culture are missing out on. I was reminded of this fact on the bus home today by some folks who were not going to take no for an answer to idle chit-chat. Some of my generation (born in the late 70s) hate this “small talk”, but I think our cultural conversation abilities are being lost. I know for one that I am not very good at making conversation. It is part of what makes being a human-being unique.
I honestly would not normally take the bus from where I live. It’s over a mile walk to the nearest bus 
station, and driving to a bus stop doesn’t work for me. However, the bicycle trip is very quick and it’s enjoyable on my relaxed single speed. Yes, I am inconveniencing the other bus riders by taking the time to load my bicycle, but it’s probably a relatively rare occasion when the bike rack is used.
Having the bike-bus option is a good cold weather option when commuting by bike is too cold. Realistically, a bicycle is not a good option for most people when the weather outside goes below 40ish, however there are hearty people who do commute by bike in the serious cold.
