Whether you want to admit it or not, there's still a certain stigma surrounding public transportation.

I, certainly, have been one who likes the flexibility driving my own car into work offers.

However, my girlfriend recently took a new job where they encourage their employees to take alternative transportation to and from work.

They provided her with an eco-pass on RTD. This allows her to ride the bus or light rail at anytime on any day for free. She at first had her doubts. Like anyone else, she wondered how diligent or faithful she would be to the whole process. How long would she have to wait, how much longer would she have to figure into her commute time? All reasonable questions. She found the answers to those questions by just logging on to http://rtd-denver.com/

Here it lists schedules, routes and fares for almost any destination within Denver and the Metro Area. After taking the bus into work a few times, she boasted how easy and convenient it was.

So, I decided to try it myself.

Of course, my background in science and math has molded me into a person who enjoys figures and calculations. I'm a rational, logical thinker, so before I could hop on a bus or train, I had to "crunch the numbers." From my house to work it is an eleven mile trip one-way, that's 22 miles roundtrip. At five days a week, that's 110 miles. The drive for me is 3/4 stop-and-go lights and 1/4 interstate, thus my car's gas mileage isn't maximized- I tend to average around 18 miles per gallon. So, at 110 miles per week, that's about 6.1 gallons of gas, at $3.50/gallon that comes to $21.40 per week in gas.

We don't live near a light rail station, so the bus is really the only way for me to commute in without driving myself. A bus ride from my house to work is a $1.75 for a one-way trip, so $3.50 roundtrip/day. That comes to $17.50 for a week's worth of commuting. Already I have saved nearly $4.00. Add that up over the course of a year and it comes to $208.

That may not sound much to you, but think about the additional money I'm saving on the wear and tear on my car. Brakes, tires, shocks, belts, they all eventually wear-out. Replacing them is costly. I estimate I could extend the life of all of these car parts significantly if I were to take the bus at least 3 times per week.

So, the bottom line is, I've found a way to save money while eliminating my cars pollution from the climate change equation. According to David Bach, author of "Go Green, Live Rich", on average a car will put 3,640 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year.

I'm not going to lie, the bus trip takes about twenty-five minutes longer than if I drove my car. This means I'm having to get up earlier so I can walk to the bus stop 6 blocks from my house..

(I definitely enjoy the exercise). And some days the weather isn't so nice, but overall I am very content taking RTD to work, I don't have to stress over traffic and use the time to get some work done before hitting the office. My girlfriend inspired me to take RTD-- hopefully I will do the same for someone reading this.