Are American sidewalks so inexistent that you can’t walk there instead? Driving so close for groceries blows my mind.
I am American.
I have moved to a place that has a grocery store within 5 minutes of walking and is a GAME CHANGER for me.
The last place I lived at, 30 min drive to the grocery store in the other town. Yes, there were not grocery stores in the town I lived in.
In college, I had to walk an hour (one way) to get to the grocery store. Which was technically about the same time as busses, since every stop was an hour wait.
When I was traveling, stopped in Bakersfield because its the only place in that God forsaken area. I was eating a burger and saw a book store across the street. But it was a very busy street, and I didn’t see any crosswalks. So I pulled up google maps, and low behold, 15 min walk to get to the bookstore that was literally across the street from me. 5 min drive.
Yes US’s infrastructure is just that bad. You are lucky if you get sidewalks in rural areas.
you have buses so you’re lucky. lol
and the entirety of kern county felt like a west coast version of the new jersey turnpike
Definitely lucky.
The city I currently live in is making a HUGE push for public transportation. Fixing roads, adding a ton of bike lanes, lighting up paved trails thought the city, adding train station stops, free parking garages, and MAKING ALL BUSES FREE FOR EVERYONE. You can even call a bus to come pick you up. Its actually insane what they have done in the last year or two.
Not moving anytime soon thats for sure.
I “technically” have busses near my house. The bus stop is on the corner and the grocery store is about 2 miles away. No brainer right?
Nope. Because the bus only comes every 45 minutes (according to the schedule, good luck if you trust it) and it takes 2.5hrs to go from my stop to the one next to the grocery store.
Or I can just walk the 25 mins or whatever it takes me to walk there.
Unfortunately, yes. The closest grocery store is literally a 5 minute drive away, but the 2-lane road there is just wide enough for the cars (driving at decent speed) in either direction. No sidewalks and nigh impossible to bike due to the monster trucks on the road and drainage ditches immediately to either side of the road.
My closest grocery store is more than two miles away (3.2km). I’m not walking that carrying several bags of groceries. I certainly don’t have time to go to the store more than once a week or so.
That is a lot more than a 4 minute drive then.
Going to the shop here by car is by google maps, “typically 7-12 mins” for a 2 mile trip and that is a pretty accurate estimate. I can cycle it reliably in 10 and don’t even have to sober up.
You drive for a 4 minute journey?
Some parts of the world are so heavily built for cars that they are hostile and dangerous to walkers and bikers, and also have little to no public transport. Also, some people are disabled.
Some people can’t drive, either due to poverty or disability. But they may be able to walk or cycle.
Nah fuck it, I’ll just turn on the radio. I don’t like pop songs or people talking all the time, but it’s probably fine for the 4 min drive?
Somehow the entire 4 minutes are only advertisements. And changing channels doesn’t help because all the channels sync up the times they do ads to prevent people from switching around. And even worse, it’s the same thing on the drive back.
The most important part of the day really.
How dare you call me out like this.
