Then, I had to pay another thousand dollars to insure my car for the year. And finally, the weekly cost of gasoline, oil and upkeep can range from twenty to several hundred dollars.
Speaking of gas and oil, another consideration when deciding to drive into work or hop on the bus, is that of the environmental effects both modes of transportation cause. We've all, at one time or another, been stuck behind a car or truck that is sending a billowing cloud of toxic smoke our way. When people choose public transportation, they are reducing the number of cars on the road, and emitting pollutants for only one vehicle, opposed to fifty. However, when people decide to all travel to the same location using their own vehicles, each vehicle is burning several fuels, all of which are polluting our environment. Natural resources such as gasoline and oil are drastically overused, and if we don't adopt better methods of conserving them, our supplies will soon be gone. .
There is also a social aspect to consider when choosing mass transit or your own vehicle. When using public transportation, one has multiple encounters with other people, whether they even realize it or not. For example, one morning on my way to work, I was reading the back side of a mans newspaper while hanging from a strap on the subway. As he peered over his paper at me I looked away. This went on several times until we both laughed about it, I apologized, and he asked if I would like to go out some time. Although that encounter never amounted to much, I would never have met that person if we weren't sharing a ride to work. Say a person takes two busses on the way to work; between waiting at the bus stop, riding the bus, waiting to transfer, and riding the second bus, that person has already experienced interaction with at least fifty or sixty people. Whether it's overhearing a conversation, politely asking someone to make room for them on the bench, or listening to a mother scold her child, that person has just taken part in several people's morning moments.
