Last year, when I was still in college, I used my bike pretty much every day. Why, you may ask? Welp, here are my top three reasons to bike instead of drive.

Save Money By Biking

The initial investment to get a bike can be as expensive as you want, but it’s pretty easy to get a cheap (or even free) bike. I got my bike as a birthday present back in 8th grade, but it’s still going strong. I had to get it fixed up at one point, though, so I took it to 1304 Bikes here in Raleigh. They fix up old bikes and give them away, and they were able to help tell me how to fix my bike. If you are buying a bike, look on OhSoHandy or other websites to find some great deals on used bikes.

The biggest way that biking saves you money, though, is because of all the money you’ll be saving by not driving your car. If you cut out all the gas that you normally buy, plus all the repair costs of your car, you’ll be surprised at how much money you’ll save. It’s a big reason why I was financially able to get through college without having loans out the ying yang.

Lower Your Pollution and Your Eco-Footprint

If you’re using your bicycle, you’ll be creating a lot less pollution (zero, believe it or not) than by driving your car to get to places. Cars use up a lot of resources (gasoline and oil especially) and also are a huge source of pollution in today’s modern dog-eat-dog world. In fact, driving a car is the most polluting thing that an average person does. So riding a bike (and not driving your car as much) is a great way to cut down on that hefty ol’ eco-footprint of yours.  Plus, by riding your bike, you can enjoy all the natural scenery that you’ll be biking past, instead of concentrating on the back of the car in front of you while you’re in a traffic jam.

Get Yo’self Some Exercise And Wake Up

In college, I had a job that required me to be on campus pretty early (2:00 AM on Wednesdays!). The only thing that woke me up for that shift (besides good ol’ coffee) was biking about 2 miles to get there. Biking helped wake me up and keep me all energized for the whole day, whether I was going to class or work. Plus, it kept me in pretty good shape, even though me and my friends would eat a bunch at the dining hall. Without biking, I probably would have been morbidly obese and sleeping through all of my classes.

Get To Class On Time

Now I know most of you have probably never been late for class ever, but back in the day, I was usually about 5 to 10 minutes late (especially for those huge auditorium classes).  The embarassment and shame this caused me was almost too much to handle, but then I got me a bike and have never looked back since.  It’s amazing how much faster you can get around on campus by using a bicycle.  You can fly by people, and make it across campus in about a quarter of the time that it takes to walk.  So do yourself a favor if you’re in college (or even if you’re not), and go get a bike.  After a week of using it, you’ll wonder why you didn’t start biking sooner.