How far would you walk to work?

Bletchleyite · 3 Mar 2019

Groningen said:
Walking 1 kilometer is 12 minutes; cycling 1 kilometer is 3 minutes. Which would you rather choose?

In most urban settings the differential is not like that at all in practice because of other factors. Though the further you go the more pronounced it gets.

If I'm going to the station, I allow 20 minutes door-to-platform (including ticket and tea purchase) when cycling or 30 to walk. Cycling has a couple of things that aren't there for walking (unlocking the garage, getting the bike out and relocking - only about 2 minutes but still non-zero time) and locking up at the other end and walking from the cycle parking which is about the same.

Cycling does save enough time there to be worth it, but if I didn't already cycle probably not worth buying a bike specifically for that.

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Peter Mugridge · 3 Mar 2019

Groningen said:
Walking 1 kilometer is 12 minutes; cycling 1 kilometer is 3 minutes. Which would you rather choose?

Walking.

1) I haven't got 100% balance.
2) Too many manics driving cars these days.

gswindale · 4 Mar 2019

Back in the day, I had a 30 minutes walk each way to the office. Then job moved to London and so became 15 minutes to station and then 30 minutes across London (bus an option, but queues very bad if raining despite the use of bendy buses).

Now, is a 20 minute drive mostly down a motorway, so no real alternatives.

NSEFAN · 4 Mar 2019

I would tolerate up to an hour's walk, but only if it is not alongside busy polluted roads and there's a bus or other public transport that provides an alternative incase of rain.

Given the amount of bad drivers, I would only cycle if almost all of the route is segregated from roads.

Perhaps the OP could create a poll to see what time ranges most people would tolerate?

PeterC · 4 Mar 2019

About 30 minutes for me. When I changed jobs from one that involved walking to the station to one where I could only get to work by driving I quickly put on weight.

GrimShady · 2 Apr 2019

About 20 seconds from my cabin to the ships bridge :lol:

whhistle · 2 Apr 2019

gazthomas said:
20-30 mins myself

Probably about this.

nlogax · 2 Apr 2019

I aim for five to six miles of walking per day if I'm with clients. A mile each way to / from the station, a couple of miles from Waterloo to the City and then back again. It's great...time to myself, lots of exercise and music or podcasts.

Belperpete · 2 Apr 2019

When I was younger, I regularly used to walk an hour home as there were few buses in the evening. Not sure I would do that these days.

At my last job it was 15 minutes from home to station, and about 25 minutes from station to office at the other end (before they relocated the office it was only 5 minutes from station to office). No usable bus either end.

Strat-tastic · 2 Apr 2019

I try to walk 2 or 3 times a week, 25-30 mins each way.
I go a slightly longer way but it goes through a park and down a peaceful public footpath.
Oh and over the railway at a foot crossing

AndrewE · 2 Apr 2019

For me cycling wins out over walking if it's more than about about 5 minutes on foot (which is every trip to the station and to the nearest shop.) That's partly where getting the bike out of the shed and locking it at the destination takes longer than walking.
It's also where the time advantage outweighs the risk of hurting the back of my knees walking fast to get the train if I am a bit late... On a bike you just have to push harder!
As the OP is asking about getting to work, I guess it depends on how important it is to arrive for a particular moment: if yiu have to book on at a specific time or be punished for being late then the bike is better, if things are flexible then I could afford to walk at my normal pace and not suffer any physical/medical or financial consequences!

Bevan Price · 2 Apr 2019

I started doing a 20 minute walk from Manchester Victoria in the early 1970s, when the bus fare increased from 4p to 23p over a period of about 2 years. Very rarely used the bus unless the weather was really bad. At the "home end" (St. Helens), the walk to St. Helens Jn. was too long (about 4 miles), so I drove or used the bus.

fowler9 · 2 Apr 2019

I live about 35 mins from work on foot. I don't walk to work though. In the summer it is enough to arrive sweaty, in the winter it is enough to get soaked through. Am quite happy to walk home though. The second half of the walk to work is also a bit depressing, other way round coming home.

etr221 · 3 Apr 2019

When work was a mile from home, I walked - took about 15 minutes, and at times beat the traffic. An hour's walk - when I was able to manage it - I would certainly have regarded as an option.

One fact - or at least proposition - I came across somewhere (a few years ago now, so it may have changed a bit) was that - in terms of time - people's (at least for the commuting class) journey to work hadn't substantially increased over the last couple of centuries - but faster transport meant that in mileage terms it has gone up a lot.

Commuting class: those, essentially middle class, who expected to live remotely from work. A group that I suspect only really emerged in the early 19th century, when increased work place density meant very high density housing nearby - and made spending time (for those who had it) on a journey to work a reasonable thing to do for better housing.

AJM580 · 3 Apr 2019

Work is nearly 3 miles away across the other side of town, so usually its a bus in, but then I walk home (about 3 miles). Most of it is off road and for some of it I'm walking the old M & GN line out of Norwich City. In summer it's really nice, but in winter it gets a bit monotonous

Bald Rick · 3 Apr 2019

30 mins walk, 31 mins train (28 on the way back :lol:

), 30 mins walk.

On a strict cost benefit analysis, it is the most economically efficient way for me.

175mph · 7 Apr 2019

About an hour.

Mojo · 7 Apr 2019

I think 35 Min walk maximum for the whole journey and no more than 10-15 Min walk to a station at either end.

ooo · 7 Apr 2019

Only up to 5 minutes walk but up to an hour cycle for me

How far would you walk to work?

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