8 ms·

People should walk as far as they are willing to walk.

CableNinja 3y ago
As i mentioned in my other post. Thats not far for most people. More than 1/4 mile and people will not hesitate to get the car
- swores 3y ago
  I'm sure there are many people for whom that is true, but there are also many people who would laugh at the idea of driving two miles instead of walking, or laugh at the idea of driving six miles instead of cycling (even with a bag or two of shopping). I think a lot of the difference between people comes down to their childhood - what they learned as default behaviour. Though obviously people can change as they grow up too, either personality wise or having health/physical reasons they either can't walk far or can't drive at all. But my point is that just because some people feel that 3 minutes is the maximum time for walking before a car should be used instead it doesn't mean that short distance is an immutable fact, and many people could get used to walking slightly further distances and discover that no only is it not the end of the world, but it's even a good way to stay or become a bit fitter and healthier!
- Animatronio 3y ago
  I was just thinking - why don't they make electrified coin-operated shopping carts that you can take home and return when you're done with them? That would greatly extend the carrying capacity of a single person and maybe make car trips redundant.
  - desas 3y ago
    Because nearly no-one wants to walk to the store, walk home, walk back to the store to return the cart and then walk home again. I never drive to the store and I still wouldn't do that.
    - Animatronio 3y ago
      You'd keep the cart until next time you need it.
      - CableNinja 3y ago
        Thats just buying a shopping cart with extra steps
        dragontamer 3y ago
        Then why don't we make the shopping cart carry people and suddenly its just a car with a lot of extra steps. Like, a car _is_ your shopping cart you take to-and-from the grocery store. It also carries you to work and does all sorts of other things. These "crappier than a car" solutions seem to be from people who haven't really thought this through IMO. --------- The solution is to have a store walking distance from the house, meaning you don't even take large amounts of groceries home. Why buy a lot of groceries when whatever you want is within walking distance? When I visited Manila, Philippines, my life was like this. Fresh bread? Just walk to the corner store, no reason to take extra home with me because tomorrow morning it'd be baked fresh again. Why should I spend on 2 pan-de-sal (great tasting Filipino bread btw) for today-and-tomorrow, when I'm planning to walk to the city-corner again to well... do anything anyway? The bus is there, the food is there, breakfast is there, everything is there. Its less convenient to even take anything home outside of eggs or other longer-term goods. But you need to live _much_ closer together than what Americans are used to. And there needs to be a reason to go "to the corner" (ex: to take the bus or other public transit). Etc. etc. etc. This simply doesn't work in American suburbia. American City centers, such as New York or Washington DC seem to have figured it out in my experience. But prices for this lifestyle are higher than just buying a car and living in suburbia. So yeah, Americans recognize the value of this lifestyle (despite all of our debate and complaints). But there's not enough space/housing in cities to have enough people live a car-free lifestyle.
        Animatronio 3y ago
        Your solution is even worse! Not only it means opening stores everywhere, but you haven't even considered the fact that not everyone wants to go shopping daily. Buying in bulk is a thing, bc of time and money saved. Besides, I was thinking of something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Foldable-Lightweight-Shopping-Capacity-Groceries/dp/B08G4Z7713#customerReviews https://www.amazon.com/Foldable-Lightweight-Shopping-Capacit... which is already popular with the old ppl in many countries in Europe.
- redwall_hp 3y ago
  I'd say most people in overly car-centric areas balk at walking from the far end of a Walmart parking lot.
- Symbiote 3y ago
  Are you serious? That's 400m. One lap of the athletics track. Should take about 4 minutes at walking speed. Aren't there shopping malls in the US longer/wider than this? I think I walk further than that between buildings to get to the canteen at lunch time. I tell people I live "really close" to a metro station and it's 380m away.
  - dataflow 3y ago
    > Are you serious? That's 400m. [...] Aren't there shopping malls in the US longer/wider than this? It's not like people go to malls as frequently as they go grocery shopping, so this doesn't really imply anything. Also don't forget you're carrying potentially heavy bags. Also don't forget not everyone is a fit 30yo.
  - micromacrofoot 3y ago
    I knew someone that drove their car to work every day… 100m away.
- dukeyukey 3y ago
  Do people who are otherwise well genuinely take a car 1/4 of a mile?

As i mentioned in my other post. Thats not far for most people. More than 1/4 mile and people will not hesitate to get the car

swores 3y ago
I'm sure there are many people for whom that is true, but there are also many people who would laugh at the idea of driving two miles instead of walking, or laugh at the idea of driving six miles instead of cycling (even with a bag or two of shopping). I think a lot of the difference between people comes down to their childhood - what they learned as default behaviour. Though obviously people can change as they grow up too, either personality wise or having health/physical reasons they either can't walk far or can't drive at all. But my point is that just because some people feel that 3 minutes is the maximum time for walking before a car should be used instead it doesn't mean that short distance is an immutable fact, and many people could get used to walking slightly further distances and discover that no only is it not the end of the world, but it's even a good way to stay or become a bit fitter and healthier!
Animatronio 3y ago
I was just thinking - why don't they make electrified coin-operated shopping carts that you can take home and return when you're done with them? That would greatly extend the carrying capacity of a single person and maybe make car trips redundant.
- desas 3y ago
  Because nearly no-one wants to walk to the store, walk home, walk back to the store to return the cart and then walk home again. I never drive to the store and I still wouldn't do that.
  - Animatronio 3y ago
    You'd keep the cart until next time you need it.
    - CableNinja 3y ago
      Thats just buying a shopping cart with extra steps
      - dragontamer 3y ago
        Then why don't we make the shopping cart carry people and suddenly its just a car with a lot of extra steps. Like, a car _is_ your shopping cart you take to-and-from the grocery store. It also carries you to work and does all sorts of other things. These "crappier than a car" solutions seem to be from people who haven't really thought this through IMO. --------- The solution is to have a store walking distance from the house, meaning you don't even take large amounts of groceries home. Why buy a lot of groceries when whatever you want is within walking distance? When I visited Manila, Philippines, my life was like this. Fresh bread? Just walk to the corner store, no reason to take extra home with me because tomorrow morning it'd be baked fresh again. Why should I spend on 2 pan-de-sal (great tasting Filipino bread btw) for today-and-tomorrow, when I'm planning to walk to the city-corner again to well... do anything anyway? The bus is there, the food is there, breakfast is there, everything is there. Its less convenient to even take anything home outside of eggs or other longer-term goods. But you need to live _much_ closer together than what Americans are used to. And there needs to be a reason to go "to the corner" (ex: to take the bus or other public transit). Etc. etc. etc. This simply doesn't work in American suburbia. American City centers, such as New York or Washington DC seem to have figured it out in my experience. But prices for this lifestyle are higher than just buying a car and living in suburbia. So yeah, Americans recognize the value of this lifestyle (despite all of our debate and complaints). But there's not enough space/housing in cities to have enough people live a car-free lifestyle.
        Animatronio 3y ago
        Your solution is even worse! Not only it means opening stores everywhere, but you haven't even considered the fact that not everyone wants to go shopping daily. Buying in bulk is a thing, bc of time and money saved. Besides, I was thinking of something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Foldable-Lightweight-Shopping-Capacity-Groceries/dp/B08G4Z7713#customerReviews https://www.amazon.com/Foldable-Lightweight-Shopping-Capacit... which is already popular with the old ppl in many countries in Europe.
redwall_hp 3y ago
I'd say most people in overly car-centric areas balk at walking from the far end of a Walmart parking lot.
Symbiote 3y ago
Are you serious? That's 400m. One lap of the athletics track. Should take about 4 minutes at walking speed. Aren't there shopping malls in the US longer/wider than this? I think I walk further than that between buildings to get to the canteen at lunch time. I tell people I live "really close" to a metro station and it's 380m away.
- dataflow 3y ago
  > Are you serious? That's 400m. [...] Aren't there shopping malls in the US longer/wider than this? It's not like people go to malls as frequently as they go grocery shopping, so this doesn't really imply anything. Also don't forget you're carrying potentially heavy bags. Also don't forget not everyone is a fit 30yo.
- micromacrofoot 3y ago
  I knew someone that drove their car to work every day… 100m away.
dukeyukey 3y ago
Do people who are otherwise well genuinely take a car 1/4 of a mile?