Hi,
In 2012 I moved to a college town in the midwest (hilly!) to do 6 months of contract work, May through November. I decided since it would be summer weather, that I could live without a car. I decided to buy a bike. All tolled, I spent about $525 on the bike, maintenance, and repairs, lights, doo-dads, fenders, baskets, paniers, etc. The rental car would have been about $25- $30 per day for 180 days. Easy to do that math. I lost 20 pounds in those months, never bought gas, rode the bus when the weather was terrible (only 4 times in 6 months-but it was a drought summer), and I still own my bike today. When I turned in the rental car, I panicked a little bit, thinking it stupid to rely on a bike when so many unforeseen situations might come up, but then I just took the plunge and about 4 months into it, I was grateful not to have a car. My range and what I considered a reasonable distance to do errands kept increasing, until I didn't think anything of riding 8-10 miles one way to fetch something or attend an event I wanted to go to.
If you want to cheat, the E-bike is always available. Then your range will be 25 miles one way easily. You can even get snow tires for winter. And you will like the new you, too! Seriously, I can see some cities approaching critical mass on bicycles (Chicago, Minneapolis, Portland). There are enough summer riders in those cities that they are actually beginning to attract others to it. The increases are going from linear to geometric. You should join in.
Congratulations, and pedal pedal.
