For you college/university students

How do you get to school?

I've been taking the bus for a few years, but this summer I managed to get my own car, and now I'm tempted to take it to school instead of riding the bus (I live in the city that the college is in, so I don't need to move to a house nearby).

The pro to taking my own car is that I can go where I want, when I want while driving. It's also faster for me (20 min or so vs. an hour or longer on the bus), so I can probably go a little later (but I'll probably still go early since parking fills up quickly at school).

The con to taking a car is that I have to pay for gas, and the wear and tear on my car. And since there's some major construction going on the freeway atm, rush hour sucks (I could get there just by taking the streets, but ugh, can't go as fast, and then gotta put up with traffic lights lol), and I'd have to deal with bad drivers too (some guy turned into my lane the other day, without signalling or even looking before he turned. If I didn't slow down, he would've ran into me).

The pro for taking a bus is that I'm helping to save the environment (I'm not a big eco-nut though, so this isn't a life-breaking deal, but it helps), and I can listen to my MP3 and read without worry. My school also has this deal with the city's transportation department, so we get a bus pass which lets us ride for free for the entire semester (have to show the pass and your school ID). You can use it for anything else too, it doesn't just have to be specifically for school only, like if you wanted to go downtown. And before you ask, yes, we have to pay for it in student fees ahead of time, but it pays for itself after about 22 bus rides or so, since it costs about $37 and a bus ride is $1.75 (if your school doesn't have something like this, you really should recommend something like this to your student commitee group, because it'll help on parking issues at the school, esp. in urban areas).

The con is that it takes a lot longer (I have to catch 2 buses to get to my school), waiting outside during cold or rainy weather sucks (esp. if you reach the bus stop just after the next bus left that stop, and it's happened enough to me lol), and I have to put up with rude people on the bus (one time this fat girl went crazy after a while, and started brandishing a small penknife. It wouldn't be a terribly big deal to me if not for the fact that she was by the rear exit, and I was in the seat just behind that exit. This meant that the knife was uncomfortably close to me, even though she wasn't specifically threatening me with it).

So, do you take a car to school, or do you ride a bus/train, or do you simply live close enough that you can just walk there? I'm leaning towards the "take a car" route, just because if I have work scheduled that day, I can go there directly with my car, rather than take a bus home, then take my car to work. And it saves me time, but it does cost me more money (I have a job, so it probably won't bother me that much). I'll probably still take the bus if the weather is terribly bad (like heavy snow and ice), but I'm wondering if the car isn't a better option during good weather, and what you guys and gals think about it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.