[HN Gopher] The most, and least, walkable cities
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       The most, and least, walkable cities
        
       Author : pavel_lishin
       Score  : 26 points
       Date   : 2024-07-25 15:55 UTC (7 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.economist.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.economist.com)
        
       | its_ethan wrote:
       | https://archive.is/rgGaX
        
         | wyldfire wrote:
         | Unfortunately, the table with the actual data is not functional
         | here and it's one of the more interesting parts of the article.
        
           | its_ethan wrote:
           | Yea none of the interactive stuff appears to be functional :\
        
       | snapcaster wrote:
       | Can someone summarize this for us? even with the archive link I
       | can't see the data
        
         | shaftway wrote:
         | My take-aways were:
         | 
         | - Americans drive
         | 
         | - Non-European countries walk / transit
         | 
         | - Very large cities aggregate a lot of kinds of living that
         | skew the results towards the common modality for that country
         | (e.g. New York and London).
        
       | kv85s wrote:
       | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016041202...
       | 
       | The triangular visualizations are kinda nifty.
        
         | lmihaig wrote:
         | Data and more visualisations here
         | https://citiesmoving.com/visualizations/
        
       | thriftwy wrote:
       | Walking, scootering or taking transit to work became of
       | considerable less interest to me once I became fully remote.
       | 
       | What is interesting to me now is whether my children will able to
       | walk to school and back, since that one is not remote, and I hope
       | it won't be.
        
         | aos wrote:
         | Counter-point: walking and taking public transit became
         | considerably _more_ interesting for me once I became fully
         | remote. However, I do live in an area with walkable amenities
         | (coffee shops, grocery stores, etc).
        
           | thriftwy wrote:
           | Sure, but unfortunately, the linked website doesn't ask about
           | that.
        
       | pesenti wrote:
       | Interactive visualization with free access:
       | https://citiesmoving.com/visualizations/
        
         | jerlam wrote:
         | The difference between the US and even its northern neighbor,
         | Canada, seems stark.
         | 
         | That being said, how does Manhattan have a greater percentage
         | of car trips than NYC? Are hundreds of thousands of people
         | taking Taxis and Ubers?
        
           | linearrust wrote:
           | > Are hundreds of thousands of people taking Taxis and Ubers?
           | 
           | Probably. Not just the tourists, but business folks. I
           | remember people would regularly take a taxi for a business
           | meeting only a couple blocks away. I guess if the company is
           | paying for it, why not.
        
       | systemtest wrote:
       | I noticed Utrecht in the third place. Having worked there, I can
       | agree with that. However, with Utrecht being so expensive to live
       | in I experienced that most people that work in Utrecht, don't
       | live there. They live in 'affordable' smaller cities and villages
       | nearby. And with industrial estates like Papendorp and Science
       | Park having sub-par public transit, those people often take the
       | car. If you live in a place like Cothen, it is 19 minutes by car
       | to Science Park or 53 minutes by public transit. Papendorp is
       | over an hour by public transit and 18 minutes by car.
       | 
       | So while 75% of the people living in Utrecht are likely to travel
       | to work by bicycle or even walking, I'd say that the people
       | working in Utrecht are far less likely to travel there by
       | bicycle, walking or even public transit. Resulting in daily heavy
       | traffic on the nearby four highways of Utrecht (A2, A12, A28,
       | A27)
        
         | user568439 wrote:
         | Utrecht is fantastic and even if you get to the city by car,
         | the most convenient is to drop it in the park and ride outside
         | for 7 euros a day including public transport to the center.
         | 
         | All cities should have a downtown where the only vehicles are
         | taxis and buses and some neighbour.
         | 
         | The neighbourhoods around the center are also designed in a way
         | that crossing them by car is possible but very inconvenient.
         | Going from Lombok to Wittevrouwen is always around 10 minutes
         | by bike but can be more than 30 by car during busy hours.
        
       | mppm wrote:
       | This is not so much about which cities are walkable, but a survey
       | of how people actually do get around there. Big difference. I've
       | browsed the dataset and Auckland rates as less "walkable" than
       | Kuala Lumpur. Yes, Kiwis do get around by car a lot, but Auckland
       | is still a perfectly pleasant, walkable city. On the other hand,
       | I've never been in a more pedestrian-hostile place than KL.
        
       | chung8123 wrote:
       | The city/cities I have lived in would not be considered walkable
       | by many people. The thing is if you want walkable you pick your
       | location in the city to make it walkable for you. I have always
       | been able to find a place that can cover a large % of my trips by
       | foot. I love cars and still own them, I just prefer to run my
       | errands on foot.
        
       | throwaway22032 wrote:
       | I don't think that an overall statistic works very well for this.
       | 
       | I live in London and I probably do split my time very roughly 1/3
       | ish across the three modes as stated.
       | 
       | But that's because I'm doing different things.
       | 
       | The tube is used to go into town, meet up with urban living
       | friends, go to museums, visit specialist high end shops.
       | 
       | The car is used to go to larger stores like the supermarket, big
       | shopping centres, DIY stores, to go out of town, go to the golf
       | range, visit friends and family.
       | 
       | Walking gets me to the corner shop, to local friends, to the
       | park, the last mile on public transport.
       | 
       | It's very walkable/cyclable, I just don't spend my life in a 1-5
       | mile radius.
        
       | joaquincabezas wrote:
       | Correction (May 13th, 2024): A previous version of this article
       | stated that two Spanish cities made the top ten. In fact, it was
       | four. Sorry.
       | 
       | lol, I see what you did there
        
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       (page generated 2024-07-25 23:14 UTC)