I'm an intern in the Seattle area for the summer and was faced with a choice upon arriving - buy a bike and get $350 of it covered or pay ~$1000 to get a rental car for all three months. Due to the obvious financial benefit of the former I wanted a bike, but after it raining for a week straight upon my arrival I chose to get a car. This, along with the tremendous social benefits of being able to come and go as you please, convinced me that owning and riding a bike is a healthy alternate transportation method for the nice days, but not really a feasible replacement.