Gift a man a bike, and he will ride for a year. Gift him bolt cutters, and he will ride forever.
Jokes aside, where are you? Here, good new bikes are ridiculously expensive, but if you know where to look and what to look for, used ones are cheap. You don't even have to deal with a shady dude in a back alley, a lot of municipalities etc. auction off bikes they confiscate, which are often a few hours of work away from being pretty okay
The one downside is that a lot of people I know have had some nasty accidents and broke a bone or something. Sure, in cars you are also at the risk of kissing a tree at highway speed, but bike accidents feel a lot more common and have a lot less protective metal involved