As a person who grew up taking public transit or walking almost everywhere, learning to ride a motorcycle was a total game-changer for me. While I had long been accustomed to the power of a good pair of headphones to deter unwanted conversations in public places, a full-face helmet (especially if you have a Bluetooth headset, so you can still listen to your music if you like) takes that concept to the Nth degree.
No longer was I subject to the whims of someone else's schedule; only traffic. But if you take a public bus, you're also subject to traffic snarls, on top of whatever schedule the bus company is either succeeding or failing at sticking to.
And compared to parking a car (even a little hatchback like the VW GTI I used to drive), parking a motorbike on crowded city streets is about a million times easier, at a rough estimate. Of course, there are safety concerns, as there always are when you ride a motorcycle. And that's why I'm a big believer in ATGATT, which so far has served me well.
