I live out in the suburbs and commute about 40 minutes... well it was
30 minutes to cover the same commute 10 years ago, but you can't
expect a guy my age to hold the pace that he did a decade ago.

I kinda figure that the amortized purchase price of a car, before
insurance, cost of opportunity, taxes, etc... is about $2k a year.
Those craigs list ads for $2-5k probably DO have some life in 'em,
sometimes there are some bargains but mostly you get what you pay
for... A new car for $20k doesn't sound unreasonable, and if you take
good care of it it will probably give you 10 years. If you can buy a
beater for $2k and it provides a year of service (without buying
parts) you're right on schedule.

I'm thinking that the fuel and the purchase price of the car are
probably a little more than half of the total outlay though, or so it
seems. If I bought a $2k bike and ate $2k worth of extra snickers
bars to fuel it every year I think I would come out ahead of the
motorist (Bike jerseys?, shoes? little elastic straps to keep my pants
leg outta the chain) I just can't imagine trying to east $2k worth of
snickers bars, I'm willing to give it a shot in the name of science
tho.. The biggest fly in this ointment would be my wife wanting me to
get rid of a bike every time I got new one and me wanting to keep 'em
till they were worn out.