14 points

Are American sidewalks so inexistent that you can’t walk there instead? Driving so close for groceries blows my mind.

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9 points

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.

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3 points

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

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4 points

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.

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2 points

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.

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3 points

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.

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2 points

Americans think they need to get an entire month’s groceries in one go

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3 points

Even then, there are cargo bikes.

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-3 points

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.

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3 points

It says “4 min. drive” in the OP though, which is what everybody is commenting about, not your personal anecdote.

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2 points

3.2 is like less than 10 minutes on a bike, which can easily carry more than a week’s worth of groceries with the right type of equipment.

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1 point

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.

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0 points

Please don’t ride your bike drunk. Youre not just endangering yourself, but other cyclists and pedestrians too.

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12 points

You drive for a 4 minute journey?

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8 points

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.

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2 points
*

Some people can’t drive, either due to poverty or disability. But they may be able to walk or cycle.

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1 point

True, I’m one of them. Wouldn’t really say I’m in poverty, but I certainly couldn’t afford a car. But that’s not relevant, since nobody questioned that. You did, however, question why one would make a 4 min drive, so I gave reasons why someone might.

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7 points

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.

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3 points

That’s how you know all the channels you’re trying are owned by the same company (clear channel/iheartradio)

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2 points

Sometimes I find music can be a way to motivate me to get out of the house, in a “silly human needs her silly rituals” kind of way. I wonder whether this may be the case for OP (whether that’s the OP of this post, or the original OP of the meme)

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4 points

The most important part of the day really.

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2 points

if you walk there, it becomes a much bigger part of your day too. lol

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5 points

How dare you call me out like this.

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