Transportation Options

Last week I was obsessing over a scooter. I still am, but some of my fellow bloggers brought up some good points which I wanted to address...


Shauna brought up a few points:
1. My BAD car accident luck. Yep, in my last car I had horrendous luck. Over the course of three and a half years, I was rear ended four times - and 3 of those times were over the course of about six or seven months. As ridiculous as it sounds, I really think that that car was cursed. Somewhere (don't remember where) I read that green cars are one of the most commonly hit - that car was a lovely dark green. Since I dumped that car, I've had no fender bender issues at all.
Yes, a scooter would definitely have a higher risk than a car. I would definitely have to be a more defensive driver, but I would take the extra measure of taking one of the CHP motorcycle driving courses to learn how to safely operate the scooter and defensive maneuvers.
2. Residual back pain from the above accidents. Honestly, I hadn't thought of this. My back hasn't bothered me too badly in the past few months and when it does, its primarily due to carrying heavy bags - I've taken care of that recently by switching from a messenger bag to a backpack, but I suppose I could work on strengthening my back anyways. I do have a gym membership that I haven't been using.

Tanya mentioned that theres a place in East Sacramento selling scooters for $1,700 - another friend had mentioned this place, but I found Sac Cycle in the Rancho Cordova area (off of Sunrise & White Rock) where they're selling the same scooters for $1,500 out the door with tax, registration, all that stuff, out the door.
A friend of mine knows the owner and has bought 2 from there (matching his & hers for her and her hubby). She's also been kind enough to extend the offer of taking me out for a scooter ride so I could get a feel for it and see if I really want one before committing to buying one.

John asked why I hadn't considered using public transportation on the days that riding the scooter wasn't a very good option.
I wish I could use the bus/light rail for my daily commute - I really do.
If I only commuted to and from work, there would be no problem. My dilemma is that I also go to school in the evenings.
I've checked out the trip planning options on Regional Transits website, getting to work in the mornings would be no problem. Getting from work to school would pose a little bit of a challenge - I would have to be sure that I got out of work at exactly 5pm (this is not always feasible) and I would barely make it to class on time.
Getting home in the evenings is whats proving to be impossible. I go to school at ARC and don't get out of class until 9:30 pm. There are buses that leave the school just before 10 pm, but I could only get as far as Sunrise Mall. The bus would drop me off there at just before 10:30 pm and that late at night, the bus line home from the mall has ended and I would exactly feel comfortable walking three and a half miles home, by myself, that late at night.

This is one of the things that I miss about living in Boston. The years that I lived there I relied solely on public transportation. The network of subways and buses was amazing and they ran late enough that I didn't have these kinds of issues. Utilizing public transportation was extremely convenient.

I hope that Sacramento RT recognizes how much usage is increasing and plans on extending route hours.