[Alex Mackinnon]

But the option is there, and I see a lot of bikes on the road during summer.

Repairs are cheap for the most part. Especially when you learn how to wrench for yourself, there's books, rental shops and the like. The beauty of a bike is you don't need much space.

Now if you add ~$3 toll for those 3 blocks what youre going to see is an equilibrium of people who can't afford to be late, value their time much more than those who drive around or just simply don't give a crap. The end result is still likely going to be more carbon emissions and additional debt from installing the tolling infrastructure. You wouldn't save money on maintenance either if people have to drive farther to go around the toll.

Now as an academic I'd say that making $10-13K or so in a summer isn't entirely unreasonable, $15-25 as you gain in value. Most coop jobs in my field started around $3K a month for second years. Provided you have some initial capital to spend its not like a used car or cheap motorcycle are out of your reach.