[Closed] why don't people walk any more?

Being a dog I walk most places

I was thinking this, then I went to America. No one walks, and I mean no one.

how do you get to the toilet? very messy if people don't walk.

It's unbelievably dull.

Unless you have a dog.

I walk all the time. Often walk 10 or 12 miles in a day

The fat and lazy ones (about 70% in my street) all drive to the local shop which is a 3 minute walk. Its probably only marginally quicker by the time youve turned round and parked at the shop. But they are also the ones that dont recycle, dont walk their dogs, and dont seem to really care about much apart from themselves.

Everyone has shagged ankles. 😉

I love walking. At least an hour a day with the doggies, more when possible. I'm just heading out now and will be about two hours. I suppose the location helps - I think I'm going to go here tonight, which is no hardship.

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in residential areas by me you don't see many people outside the house unless they are in their car. The only people you see on the streets are a couple of regular dog walkers, some joggers and some kids when its time to go to/leave school. The concept of a street as a social space where people interact seems to be a bygone thing where I am.

Everyone has shagged ankles.

shit excuse that. tell em to MTFU

I dont walk because i have a bike duh

I walked 5miles home at 3am Sunday morning through Manchester city centre to next to the motorway. I could have got a taxi but it was a lovely night and I thought why not? I often do this, tricking people into walking allover London, Barcelona, Paris etc etc. Walkings ace. You see more.

It's unbelievably dull.

it's what ipods were invented for.

I average about 6 miles a day into town and back if I take the direct route. I usually take the long route along the beach or over a hill to avoid the constant roar of traffic. Easily 10 miles if the weather is nice.

I was thinking this, then I went to America. No one walks, and I mean no one.

This is true. We got stopped by the police in California. We tried to walk from one end of a street to a shop at the other and the cops wanted to know what we were doing just walking along on the grass. We pointed at the van and at the shop we were going to and asked us why the hell we'd left the van all the way back there or something. He looked at us like we were turds.

I was thinking this, then I went to America. No one walks, and I mean no one

I think varies from Place to Place. Lots of people on foot In boulder Colorado. Apparently walking is big in new york. But Los Angeles is a bit more "Walle"

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Being a dog I walk most places

Give us a selfie magnetodog. 😀

it's what ipods were invented for.

Why would anyone walk anywhere?*

*unless you have a dog

It's dull? You have to be happy with your own company first dude.

It's too dangerous when there's so many bloody cyclists riding on the pavement 🙂

I suppose the location helps

So you live in Glencoe or very near?
Not that I'm even slightly jealous!

Near enough 🙂

It's a great way to get around. I love walking round a new city, good way to get the measure of a place. I'm sure some tourists walk further using the underground in London than just walking straight to their destination. Still plenty of people walking around here, too. I usually walk to the shops and I'm far from the only one. It is a bit of eco bohemian area though.

We found loads in Barcelona and Paris. We didn't touch the metro once or taxi's. Yes our feet were tired at the end of literally hours walking but you get the vibrancy, spot things you only tend to find a few trips/or local knowledge later.

Abit like new area trail hunting on the bike 8)

I walk. A lot. maybe not for hours, and miles, but more often walk in town than take the bike TBH.

And I get to sort out stuff in my head, walk by the river, appreciate sun, rain, sleet, wind. Sometimes wish I had a dog though as it seems more acceptable to go for a walk with a dog than just on your todd!

Apparently walking is big in new york

In NYC it's like combat walking. Don't get caught on the street at rush hour. Keep up or be trampled.

And I get to sort out stuff in my head

I liked it when I could walk home from work. It took an hour but only 20 minutes more than sitting in rush hour traffic. Plus I'd get home chilled out and if I drove I'd arrive home still ready to kick a hole in the wall.

In LA a few years back I decided to walk from my hotel at then end of restaurant row to the fancy shops about 3 miles away. I was happily walking down the street when a police car stopped next to me and asked what I was doing.

I said I was going to the shops and the laughed at my accent and said there were no shops nearby, would I like a ride back to my hotel (about 1/2 a mile)

I said I was happy to carry on walking as it was only a couple of miles so they drove off giggling to themselves.

I carried on walking and about ten minutes later I glanced back and the police car was about 400m behind me just trickling along at walking pace.

I walked a bit more and looked again and they were maintaining pace with me. I waved them over and asked what they were doing. The explained that they had a bet on how long I would walk before calling a cab, when I said I didn't have a phone they nearly pissed themselves.

I don't walk so much now because despite having more than the average number of legs, I have less than the average number of ankles.

I had to walk to work this morning, a sodding builder/property developer has stuck some barriers along a 250mtr stretch of road, the only viable road on the island. There were queues both side of the lights for at least 500mtrs and therefore much easier to walk in.
I should walk more often, I ride in, but walking very rarely. It's not unknown to take the car either.. And I'm going to tell you just how far it is into work.. 2k.. Yup,,that's it.

I'm such a lazy sod during the week 🙄

I don't walk much at all in urban areas, walking more than a few hundred metres is near guaranteed to make me need to wee and I no longer have the capacity to hold it for more than a minute or two. I like walking in rural areas but my legs fatigue pretty quickly and feel terrible, all in biking is just better for me :p

My work colleagues today remarked upon my walking to work as odd. This is from people who live 1 mile away and drive.

Walking is great, I don't own a car so I'm never tempted to drive somewhere I could walk, if I have the time I would walk somewhere even if it was an urban journey and not some bucolic amble through countryside.
I think people are generall lazy. Was staying on the Lizard peninsula in the summer and we did some short 7-12 mile walks along the coastal paths and hardly saw anybody, the car parks were rammed though and the cliffs 500ft either side were busy but beyond that the wilderness and no wifi seems to make people nervous

If I've got time, then I will walk places but I find it quite boring.
Even when out in the countryside my first thought is that it'd be more fun on a bike.

I've always been like that. I used to run home from school because it was less boring than walking or run back from the pub, rather than stagger.

Where I live there are quite a lot of people who seem to walk frequently. Leading the charge is the dog walkers, but if I'm peering out of the kitchen window while washing up I see plenty of people just out for a walk.

i try to walk as much as possible home from work, to the gym, etc. I am always baffled as to why people go to the gym to walk on the treadmill!

I walk all over the Toon almost everyday but me colleagues don't coz they cannot keep up ...

Cliff thinks it's so funny.....why we don't walk anymore

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8-10 miles a day here

thats a great story WCA 😀

Sod off nobody walks anymore?!

My feet are aching from from walking around at work all day.

I also walk anything from 159-200 miles over 2-3 weeks every summer e.g. Thames Path or Cotswolds or another country's famed trail.

Broke my foot and sprained my ankle slipping on a wet floor, rested it for 2 weeks then walked 180 miles.

Arch supports are a life saver too.

Stop being a lazy fatso.

I walk 6 miles every day, I love walking to work it's a great way to start the day (I run home which is a great way to end the day)

I go to the pool 2 or 3 times a week dropping off and or picking up my son. There are two car parks, one small overcrowded one at the side of the building and another much bigger one about 100 yards away. The small one is supposed to be for the disabled and people with kids but a lot of people that park there are neither of these IE young fit and single. The guys at the centre have put up large planters with chains connecting them to stop people parking where they shouldn't but the guilty have broken or removed the chains so they can park there. The trouble people who are going to swim or use the gym etc go to to avoid walking a short distance amazes me. The local Co-op is just as bad, people parking in the disabled bays or on the double yellows when there's a space ten yards away. I think this and the love for Adele and Michael Bay movies suggests humanity is doomed.

I walk up the hill behind my house a few times a week, and also walk to the local shops, doctors surgery, post office, etc.
I was in the US on business in a place that isn't designed for pedestrians! They catch a cab to go across the 4-lane highway. I decided to go to the small shopping mall next to my hotel. There was no path so I had to walk across the grass and climb over a fence! Once in the mall, I was stopped by someone who asked me if I was doing "power walking". 😀

I was in the US on business in a place that isn't designed for pedestrians!

I was in Houston, pretty much trapped in my hotel unless I called a taxi. Absolutely no way to leave the place on foot - all roads, no pavements.

At least we're as bad as the states. Apparently the average American walks all of 1.4 miles in the average week (not including in the house - getting off the sofa to go to the fridge for yet more food). 1.4 miles - that's an outstandly small amount and that figure is 10 years old (can't see it will of improved in the last decade). Saying that, last time I went to the states in many urban areas it simply wasn't possible to walk - out of town shopping and a general lack of pavements - a country that is truly ruled by the car

My new site is probably half a mile from my cabin to the other side. I'm a bit fed up of walking at the moment and for the next 32 weeks 🙄

It's unbelievably dull.

Unless you have a dog.

And then it's still dull but you get to clutch a warm bag of dogdoo.

Perchypanther - that's a big fib. Cliff couldn't give two hoots about walking but he laughs when people over-tighten their bolts and strip the threads. I've heard him say many times that it's so funny why we don't torque any m.........I'll get my coat.

A friend of mine will quite happily sit in traffic in a car park and queue to get a space nearer the shop door rather than park in an empty space further away and walk the extra hundred yards or so and be in the shop quicker. Mental.

It's the same round here. Other than a few school kids it's pretty rare to see anyone else walking once out of the town centre.
I find where my brother lives a strange place whenever I've done a few jobs for him. If it weren't for the cars on the drive ways, you'd think the house's were empty. It's like the set of a film where everyone's been killed off by a disease or something. Occasionally you'd here a door close and a car driving off or a dog barking. Spooky. 🙂

I am always baffled as to why people go to the gym to walk on the treadmill!

I usually cycle to work, but I still go for a 25 minute lunch time walk, and have done for years. I just like getting outside for a few minutes.

Me and the Mrs walk quite a bit, at the moment probably only 12 miles a week as we seem to be training most days so do not have time. We bought a couple of those shopping trollies old people use to do our weekly supermarket shop. Its awesome, we chat about fun stuff and it is proper quality time.

In the summer we walk more and hey presto weight comes off. Walking is great.

richmars - Member
I usually cycle to work, but I still go for a 25 minute lunch time walk, and have done for years. I just like getting outside for a few minutes

Me too, colleagues seem to think I'm anti social for not just sitting on the kitchen at lunch - we sit down all day for f-s sake!

I like walking, but you do get odd looks without a dog, maybe I'll get an inflatable one 😯

My partner and I go for a decent walk at least twice a week.

One of the great things about London is so many people take public transport and almost everyone gets to work in a combination of walking and train/bus/tube.
It means you actually get some exercise during your commute. Obesity levels are noticeably lower in London IMO.

I've left London now and my new workplace is excellent on work/life balance and giving us time to look after ourselves and today we discussed how we would have one of our weekly meetings as a walking meeting - the three of us will go out for a wander when we have a particular problem to solve or just want to get a decent discussion going... I can't imagine it going down too well as an idea in anywhere else I've worked..

Obesity levels are lower in London as most of your monthly wage goes on your rent/mortgage 😆

I've always liked walking: not so much as in rambling / hill walking, but as in walking to the shops and just having a nosey around new places.

I suspect there's an urban-v-rural split. We live in central Bristol and do a lot of walking as part of daily life. Our kids walk to school / nursery and, if they don't, it's because they're scooting or on bikes! Despite being in the perfect place to do it, it seems from experience that suburban and rural-based folk do a lot less (I grew up in a semi-rural area).

In addition to car culture and car-centric urban design, it may also be (now) due to fewer daily life transactions (e.g. posting letters, banking cheques) being done face-to-face and locally. I'm sure the internet is having an impact on this.

When I've worked in some quite random UK locations it had surprised me how few other people you see just going about their daily business on foot, apart from in cities. I've always made a point of walking or cycling the locale, to see what's about: there is a crazy amount of "stuff" out there in the real world that people don't see from their car windscreen or laptop.

I walk to shops, walk into town, walk to the train station if I'm using it rather than drive and park to catch it.

But other than that, I have loads of walking options around me but I'd rather ride the same 😀

When I'm injured enough to not be able to ride but can walk I'll often go out walking else I'll go crazy, but otherwise two wheels better than two legs.

However while riding I regularly come across a lot of walkers. Many are dog walkers, but weekends I'll almost always see some ramblers. Night rides often come across night walkers but also runners. Some seem to manage it without lights... in dark woodland or heathland!

Gonna strap a pair of old walking shoes to my backpack tomorrow when I cycle in and I'll then be able to go for lunch time walks even when the fields are too muddy for the lightweight shoes I use like slippers at work. 💡

I've taken to spending my lunch break strutting around the village my office is in - only about 5k but it's worth a few fitness points and helps clear my head.

I can recommend it.

I was thinking this, then I went to America. No one walks, and I mean no one.

Only place I can think of where that's not true is New York, couldn't move for pedestrians

Not walking, but I believe Portland has a big bicycle culture

I always have fun when booking hotels if I have to go away for work, we have a central booking team who handle it, I always put a preference for a hotel within walking distance of the site, numerous times have had the apologetic email or call "I'm sorry. There's nothing closer than 1-2miles away, are you ok to get a taxi" and then met with bewilderment when I say it's fine, anywhere with 3mile radius is ok

At home I generally use the bike for most things, but often walk to shopsir into town, I'm certainly not the only one round here that does though.

I walk to work, wife walks to work, kids walk to school. Our cars sit on the drive and get used only when the journey is too far to walk.

Not that unusual in Bristol. At the pedestrian crossing I have to use there will be about 25 people in each tranche waiting to cross on the green light on a weekday morning. At my kids' large secondary school I'd say at least a third walk in , and quite a few cycle.

I go to the pool 2 or 3 times a week dropping off and or picking up my son.

Big wow. I drop my kids off at the pool twice a day, once after breakfast and then again mid-morning.

I used to walk the 2 miles to work every day, but now it's 18 miles which is a bit far. My wife, on the other hand, refuses to walk to her place of work which is 310 metres from our house. What's even more baffling is that she's a super fit runner and cyclist. There are various excuses provided, all pish.

And Rannoch Moor was stunning this evening - mountains, snow, a full moon and complete solitude.

In have a Garmin step tracker and have just passed 100 days of 10,000 steps a day. Having a target means that I prefer to walk rather than go by car for local journeys.
I think that I walk more than any of my friends/family.

Only place I can think of where that's not true is New York, couldn't move for pedestrians

...not Atlanta or bloody Dallas tho

Too many cyclists in the footpaths and pavements?

(12k steps plus a day 😉 )

I know a lady who commutes 3/4 of a mile in a diesel 4wd bmw.
Last year I tried one of those step counters. It was 3 miles to work. After a day in the shop and a trip round Costco it was up to 10 miles.
Not sure how true those things are but I was surprised.

It was a bit nippy this morning and the roads hadn't been gritted, so I worked from home until 9 then rode in. The number of cars that had been cleared of frost and were now sat on the driveway was astonishing.

It can't be more than a 10 min walk to any if the schools round here

Yep had a chance to move to Dallas 15 years ago but declined as I could not walk or cycle anywhere.

I guess the US is more about where you are though the drive through ATM's are a bit of a give away...
A lot of modern residential areas don't suit walking - there just isn't anything worth walking to. If you are somewhere that you can then it's great, walked to work Monday as it had rained and I didn't fancy getting wet on the bike. Rest of the time it's just whatever is easiest. The other thing that makes it harder in the UK is the weather...
Though conversely I ended up inland from Perth WA a few years ago and decided to walk to the pool, about a mile, drank 3l of water and spent the next hour in the shade is was about 42c, people were driving past pointing at me and laughing - they were right! If I'm in one of the big cities for work I tend to end up in Taxi's during the day just easier to avoid getting overly sweaty traipsing round evenings when it's a bit cooler I'll walk for miles

Hell no! Far to many naked cyclist looking for pedestrians to ring their bell at

Loads of people walk, I walked 28 miles on Tuesday as a gentle training walk ready for another big one.

Myself and the current MrsC love going for a walk after a meal, even better when eating out we will pick a metro station the furthest away and walk to it through different routes, its a great way to get exercise, chat and see some parts of Hong Kong we would not normally.
If possible I also try to walk between meetings during the day, although that is dependent on the weather, sometimes its just not viable if you want your shirt not to resemble a gym t-shirt after 5 minutes.
I remember years ago being based in New Jersey for a while (Mt Arlington) and finding that I could not actually walk to my office from the hotel using pavements or pedestrian road crossings even though it was less than a mile away, I had to jay walk and cross over grass verges.

Tinners cliff's been involved in a big law suit recently. I heard him comment that it's funny we don't talc anymore.

I walk when I can - especially in foreign cities as Hora said, you get to see way much more, get some exercise to burn off the meals out and don't have to deal with unfamiliar transport systems.

BTW: Paris is much bigger than it looks on a map ! London is much smaller. Weird.

There is a "drive" at my work at the moment to save carbons (don't know why, they could just use biros ?) anyway, we are being actively encouraged to not fly to conferences use public transport etc for meetings. I am testing the waters with cycling the 5 miles to the head office, and will move to walking soon. (which is daft, as at the speed I walk and my day rate it is costing them more, but will see who figures that out first)

I've just started walking to work myself, partly for a bit of exercise but mostly as the parking situation at work's become a nightmare (double and triple parking). It's only 1.5 miles and quite enjoyable in these cold & dry mornings, I'll probably drive when the weather's crap... The only real downside (and the main reason I used to drive) is it was nice to pop home for lunch rather than being stuck on a business park with a couple of over-priced cafes. Bit disappointed it apparently only burns 120 calories each way, it feels harder :p

At this time of year I often prefer walking to riding bikes, plus there's no maintenance to do, apart from hosing boots down. A few hours walking in the woods with a folding saw and pocket full of little bits of marker tape is a great way to scope out new lines for riding too.
Maybe that's why I like riding singlespeeds too - it has the same "feel" as walking but you can cover more ground.
Although I did go out for a rare (for me) night ride yesterday and saw more wallabies than ever before - about a dozen.

My teenage son gets the bus to college every day and last week he was amazed to see an extremely obese man get on the bus, berate the driver over the cost of the ticket then get off at the next stop 200 yards later.

I walk quite a bit, mostly listening to podcasts.

I have had the police stop and ask you what you are doing in America as well, a suburb of Houston, decided to walk 1km to a shop from where I was originally parked, I could see the sign. Police car rolled up and asked what I was doing, asked for ID recommended that I don't walk, asked why and they just ummed and ahed. It was stupid hot and has been said there were no pavements.

Where my friends live just south of Denver there is a network of paths that the alzheimer's skiers use 😆 hordes of them all trudging along but all back in the house by 10.30 as it gets to hot in the summer.

I like a stroll, clearly as many here do too, but I think the OP is right, people don't and find those that do a bit odd.

My wife is a good example of this, she's seriously fit (barring some recent "issues" at least) but drives the 1/2 mile from our home to the gym as a walk would take too long. I find this very odd.

I never got the same experience in the USA as has been mentioned above. In San Francisco and the places around it there were plenty of people walking around and it would have been more difficult to drive it a lot of cases. In New York I don't think many people drive for obvious reasons and I reckon there's probably less car ownership per head in Manhattan than in London.

Even in Las Vegas there were plenty of provisions for walking around, we just chose one car park and walked from it which it seems a lot of people do. You have to be careful not to walk too far in one direction though as it takes ages to walk anywhere in LV due to the amount of people there and the waiting times at the intersections.

When you get out in the sticks it's a bit different, but as everything is spread out so much more than in the UK you can understand why people drive so much. Over there they never really had the village around a well thing which gradually expands like in the UK. The places tend to be very linear and so you can get main streets that are miles long, not as easy to get around like our compact towns. There isn't as much premium on space, coupled with the fact that a lot of housing is spread out for miles.

Mind you, in my 3 trips to the USA I never saw the mass obese epidemic thing everyone talks about. I am sure it's a problem but maybe not in the areas I went to.