5 ms·

While I agree that most people walking would be generally better than not, I don't quite follow your reasoning. According to this paper [1], mean comfortable w

While I agree that most people walking would be generally better than not, I don't quite follow your reasoning. According to this paper [1], mean comfortable walking speed for a male in his twenties is 253.3 cm/s (~5.67 mph). Assuming you are male and in your twenties, this means it takes you ~39 mins to work each way, not including stopping at intersections, etc. Contrast this to ~15 mins each way in a car. This means the cost/benefit would go something like this: Walking: (+) 78 mins/day commuting + exercise (+) Mood heightened (-) Lesser exercise (walking vs 1 hr at the gym where, presumably, you'd do more than walk) Driving/Gym: (-) 90 mins/day communting + exercise (-) Mood not heightened (+) Better exercise (+) More flexibility (want to go more than a couple miles for lunch? Sorry.) My guess is that most people choose option 2 for the flexibility alone. This allows them to do their exercise when they want to. Whether or not they will is another story. [1] http://ageing.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/1/15.full.pdf http://ageing.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/1/15.full.pdf

RyanMcGreal 15y ago
> this means it takes you ~39 mins to work each way I'm not sure about your speed calculations - average adult walking speed is generally understood to be around 5-6 km/h (3-3.75 mph). I'm a male in my late 30s and I generally walk at a relatively brisk 7-8 km/h (4.3-5 mph). As it happens, my walk home is about twice as long as my walk to work, since I pick up my son from school along the way. My walk to work takes about 20 minutes and the walk home takes around 45-50 (part of it at a child's brisk pace). > This means the cost/benefit would go something like this: You're missing some factors from your cost/benefit analysis. * Walking to work means we only need 1 family car. That saves $10,000 a year in direct ownership costs, not including paying for parking. * If I drove instead of walking, I would not use the time saved for exercise at a gym (know thyself), so I would simply miss that daily exercise. But if my commute just happens to constitute daily exercise, so be it. * There are about a dozen restaurants within a 5-10 minute walk of my office, including some of the best places in the city. (However, I'm cheap and almost always pack a lunch anyway.) * Downtown, not having a car confers more flexibility because I don't have to figure out where to park it. * If I do need more transportation flexibility on a given day, I can always take my bike to work that day.
- MSexton 15y ago
  > According to this paper [1], mean comfortable walking speed for a male in his twenties is 253.3 cm/s (~5.67 mph). It's been my experience that 3 mph (the speed I tend to default to) is considered fast by most of my peers. I'm in my twenties. That paper is from 1997. I suspect a lot has changed.
- InvisibleCities 15y ago
  >...my daily commute is a 6 km (3.7 mile) round trip by foot...I'm a male in my late 30s and I generally walk at a relatively brisk 7-8 km/h (4.3-5 mph)...My walk to work takes about 20 minutes... Does not compute. A trip of 3.7 miles at a speed of 5 miles per hour would take ~45 minutes. If you can actually walk your 6 km commute in 20 minutes, you should quit your job and start competing in Olympic race walking, since you are apparently outpacing the reigning world champion [1]. [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racewalking#20_km http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racewalking#20_km
  - cowpewter 15y ago
    He said roundtrip, so his 20 minute figure is for 3km, not 6. Still fast but not impossible. He might also be mentally rounding up the distance a little and down the minutes a little.
    - RyanMcGreal 15y ago
      Just to clarify: my commute home is twice as long as my commute to work, so that 20 minutes is for a walk just over 2 km.
snowwrestler 15y ago
253.3 cm/s is the maximum men's walking gait, which probably looks something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2urNVmKnEaQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2urNVmKnEaQ For comfy gaits, the study reported 127.2 cm/s for women (2.8 mph) and 146.2 cm/s for men (3.2 mph). That matches my own experience walking and hiking.
Someone 15y ago
Looking at figure 1, page 17, that 2.5 m/s is mean maximum speed, not comfortable speed. That's about 1.5 m/s. I think 2.5 m/s is high, even for mean top speed.

RyanMcGreal 15y ago

> this means it takes you ~39 mins to work each way I'm not sure about your speed calculations - average adult walking speed is generally understood to be around 5-6 km/h (3-3.75 mph). I'm a male in my late 30s and I generally walk at a relatively brisk 7-8 km/h (4.3-5 mph). As it happens, my walk home is about twice as long as my walk to work, since I pick up my son from school along the way. My walk to work takes about 20 minutes and the walk home takes around 45-50 (part of it at a child's brisk pace). > This means the cost/benefit would go something like this: You're missing some factors from your cost/benefit analysis. * Walking to work means we only need 1 family car. That saves $10,000 a year in direct ownership costs, not including paying for parking. * If I drove instead of walking, I would not use the time saved for exercise at a gym (know thyself), so I would simply miss that daily exercise. But if my commute just happens to constitute daily exercise, so be it. * There are about a dozen restaurants within a 5-10 minute walk of my office, including some of the best places in the city. (However, I'm cheap and almost always pack a lunch anyway.) * Downtown, not having a car confers more flexibility because I don't have to figure out where to park it. * If I do need more transportation flexibility on a given day, I can always take my bike to work that day.

MSexton 15y ago
> According to this paper [1], mean comfortable walking speed for a male in his twenties is 253.3 cm/s (~5.67 mph). It's been my experience that 3 mph (the speed I tend to default to) is considered fast by most of my peers. I'm in my twenties. That paper is from 1997. I suspect a lot has changed.
InvisibleCities 15y ago
>...my daily commute is a 6 km (3.7 mile) round trip by foot...I'm a male in my late 30s and I generally walk at a relatively brisk 7-8 km/h (4.3-5 mph)...My walk to work takes about 20 minutes... Does not compute. A trip of 3.7 miles at a speed of 5 miles per hour would take ~45 minutes. If you can actually walk your 6 km commute in 20 minutes, you should quit your job and start competing in Olympic race walking, since you are apparently outpacing the reigning world champion [1]. [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racewalking#20_km http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racewalking#20_km
- cowpewter 15y ago
  He said roundtrip, so his 20 minute figure is for 3km, not 6. Still fast but not impossible. He might also be mentally rounding up the distance a little and down the minutes a little.
  - RyanMcGreal 15y ago
    Just to clarify: my commute home is twice as long as my commute to work, so that 20 minutes is for a walk just over 2 km.

snowwrestler 15y ago

253.3 cm/s is the maximum men's walking gait, which probably looks something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2urNVmKnEaQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2urNVmKnEaQ For comfy gaits, the study reported 127.2 cm/s for women (2.8 mph) and 146.2 cm/s for men (3.2 mph). That matches my own experience walking and hiking.

Someone 15y ago

Looking at figure 1, page 17, that 2.5 m/s is mean maximum speed, not comfortable speed. That's about 1.5 m/s. I think 2.5 m/s is high, even for mean top speed.