Long ago, there was a time when everyday was Ride to Work Day. I was forced to, parking in San Francisco is no joke. And it’s impossible to find affordable, all day car parking so two wheels is practically a must. Unless you want to sit in traffic on a bus for an hour, a motorcycle or scooter can shave a good 30 minutes off of your cross town commute.

If I go way back to 2003, when I had a scooter, it saved me money on bus far because it only cost me $0.10/HOUR to park all day. You read that right, $0.10 AN HOUR. Less than $1.00/day, which was half the rice of a round trip bus ticket. It also cost me less than 25 minutes weaving in and out of trafffic, lanesplitting down Fell Street or navigating Van Ness Avenue in the middle of rush hour.

It was one of the most freeing experiences I ever had. Now, I have lots of free, all day parking. And not a curvy hill in site during my commute. Let’s also just say that Philadelphia stop signs and traffic lights make for a pretty annoying ride.

Goldie starts to overheat after just 5-10 minutes in slow speed traffic. If I want to avoid that, then it’s a brief zip down Interstate 95, and by the time she warms up it’s ready to get off 2 exits down.

Le Sigh.