It was worth it to ride that bus instead of fly.

[Luis Flmg]

Worth It vs Worthy, What’s the Difference? - One Minute English

“Worthy” is usually used to describe people that are valuable and “worth it” is used to describe objects and experiences. These words are also two different word types, and therefore cannot be used interchangeably. Read on to learn the meaning of the two words and when the appropriate time to...

oneminuteenglish.org

I always thought that, as of is a preposition, it would never be followed by a bare infinitive. I would certainly use flying in the sentence of the OP. Am I completely wrong?

 

[jutfrank]

What do you mean? Which sentence uses of followed by a bare infinitive?

 

[Luis Flmg]

What do you mean? Which sentence uses of followed by a bare infinitive?

....instead of fly.

 

[5jj]

What do you mean? Which sentence uses of followed by a bare infinitive?

He thought it was worth it to ride the bus instead of fly.

 

[jutfrank]

Oh, yes, I see now.

Since the speaker has used a to-infinitive as a grammatical subject (to ride that bus) co-referent with it, then for parallelism reasons I think he's committed to using an infinitive with fly too.

 

[probus]

I'd use flying there.