http://www.mydailydrive.com My Daily Drive The Hottest Cars in Miami as seen on My Daily Drive

With the way fuel prices have been the past few years, I’m pretty sure someone who has to put $60 worth of diesel fuel into their Ford Excursion just to get around 10 miles per gallon wouldn’t be the happiest camper in the world. In Gainesville, Florida we have found a perfect solution for those pesky prices at the pump. Yes, the same Gainesville, Florida that is also know as Titletown, USA and home to THE University of Florida (Go Gators!!!). What’s the great idea that has been going on for years here? Scooters. That’s right, scooters. The roughly 50,000 UF students, not to mention the other 15,000 students that attend Santa Fe College down the road, have found out that using scooters for their primary mode of transportation can save them lots of time and more importantly, lots of money.

For anywhere between $1000 and $3000 (for top of the line models) you can buy yourself a brand new scooter from one of the many dealers in Gainesville. If you don’t know anything about these little two-wheelers then let me give you a few facts for the Phoenix model my brother currently rides.

Engine Size: 49cc

Engine Type: Single cylinder, Air-cooled, Two Stroke

Weight: 224 lbs

Speed: 45-50 mph, perfect for most city streets

Average MPG: 80

Fuel Capacity: 1.2 Gallons

Retail Price: $1,399.00

Warranty: 1 year

Here’s a photo of my brother’s scooter tucked away nicely in it’s parking space by the front door of our apartment:

So what have we learned? You can buy a $1,400 scooter that gets around 80 mpg and spend less than $5.00 per month on fuel if you make the normal commute of a college student to and from class and work. I personally don’t understand why more people in other cities don’t buy themselves a scooter to commute back and forth to work and home. Use the Mercedes, BMW, or Corvette for the weekends and having fun, but save some dough and try one of these. You can tell how much fun they are and how much money they really do save you by just walking on Florida’s campus and seeing the hundreds of scooters parked all over. I challenge any city in America to show me more scooters per 20 square miles than Gainesville has. Go ahead, I’ll wait……..

Another revolutionary mode of transportation that is being used heavily around the University of Florida is something you probably expected: the bicycle. Yeah, yeah, I know it’s been around since pretty much the beginning of time, well maybe not that long, but bikes are absolutely EVERYWHERE around campus!!! The biggest benefit of riding a bike on campus is you can pretty much park it right next to your class and even develop those monster calf muscles that college girls go ga-ga over. Nice…

In the background of this photo is Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Also known as The Swamp, where only Gators get out alive!

Photos © My Daily Drive 2010