I lived in the subburbs of London, England back in 1980-82 and I would like to remind everyone contributing to this thread that in most of the UK/Europe people actually have a viable choice in public transportation. Whether it is the bus, subway, or train, the price is reasonablly cheap (especially when you purchase a monthly pass) and they pretty much run on time 7 days a week.
Here in Texas (and most of the USA) the service (if you could call it that) is also cheap (if you can access it) but it is very slow and unreliable. Train and subway services for most Americans simply do not exist. Riding the bus is out of the question for most because there are so few buses running and the schedule is so whack, that it could take you hours to get to your job. Don't even think about riding a bus on a Sunday; it could be hours before the next one comes along, if at all.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I would rather ride the subway than my bike:thumbup:, but I would ride the subway/train for a couple of dollars to work on rainy/cold days instead of climbing into my cage and burning the gas. For me public transportation is not even an option. No train, subway, or bus runs between my house and my job.
The price of fuel in UK/Europe is the reason why so many people there either ride public transportation or ride a motorcycle/scooter. More and more people see me on the FZ6 and ask me "what kind of gas mileage do ya' get on that"? As I look at them sitting in their Ford Expedition, GMC Yukon, Dodge Ram, (all huge SUV's or pickup's), I gotta smile as I tell them 50-60mpg and a whole hell of a lot more fun than a hybrid:rockon:. If there is one good thing about rising fuel costs, the size of the motorcycling community is growing in the USA, and no matter what they're riding, I'm glad to see it.