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I've heard the legends of having to drive to literally everywhere (e.g. drive thru banks), but I have no clue how far apart things are.

I live in suburban London where you can get to a big supermarket in 10 minutes of walking, a train station in 20 minutes and convenience stores are everywhere. You can get anywhere with bus and train in a few hours.

Can someone help a clueless British lemmyposter know how far things are in the US?

EDIT

Here are my walking distances:

  • To the nearest convenience store: 250m
  • To the nearest chain supermarket: 350m
  • To the bus stop: 310m
  • To the nearest park: 400m
  • To the nearest big supermarket: 1.3km
  • To the nearest library: 1.2km
  • To the nearest train station: 1km

Straight-line distance to Big Ben: 16km

(page 3) 50 comments
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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Just to give the other side. I live in a big city in the US.

  • Convenience store: .2 miles, 320 meters

  • Chain supermarket: .5 miles, 800 meters

  • Bus stop: 300 feet, 90 meters

  • Park: 0.2 miles, 320 meters

  • Big supermarket: 0.4 miles, 640 meters

  • Library: 0.9 miles, 1.4 kilometers

  • Train Station: 0.3 miles, 480 meters

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

I used Google maps to get these values. I'm using Google's estimated walking distance and will also include Google's estimated walking time.

  • Convenience store
    • Distance: 800 m
    • Time: 11 minutes
  • Chain supermarket
    • Distance: 1.1 km
    • Time: 15 minutes
  • Bus stop
    • Distance: 230 m
    • Time: 3 minutes
  • Park:
    • Distance: 450 m
    • Time: 7 minutes
  • Big supermarket (Walmart)
    • Distance: 1.7 km
    • Time: 23 minutes
  • Library
    • Distance: 2.7 km
    • Time: 37 minutes
  • Train station (local light rail)
    • Distance: 3.1 km
    • Time: 43 minutes

I'm in Utah somewhere south of Salt Lake City (the state capitol). The numbers aren't great, but they're far better than some places I've lived here. As a kid, I remember biking for 20+ minutes to make it to a small supermarket.

EDIT: as others have said, my paths can be quite bendy at times, but it's different than many suburbs in the US. Salt Lake City (and, by extension, most of the valley that it's in) is built on a fairly rigorous grid system. We have lots of straight roads with large blocks (in some cases, it can be 1-2 km between lights and crosswalks). We don't have too many ratfucked suburban mazes, so the walkability problem here is primarily due to sprawl and a dearth of crosswalks.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I live in the suburbs of a decently sized but not super large city in WI.

  • Convenience store: 120 m
  • Chain supermarket: 2.6 km
  • Bus stop: 5 m
  • Park: 450 m
  • Big supermarket: 3.1km
  • Library: 1.5 km
  • Train station: 58.9 km :(
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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Based on the small town where I grew up:

  • convenience store: 2km
  • nearest chain/big supermarket: 5km
  • bus stop: what bus?
  • park: 10km (but there are hiking trails within 1km)
  • train (metro) station: 5km
  • library: 5km
  • long distance train station: 20km
  • my dad’s daily commute when I was growing up: 140km (that’s 140km each way, 5 days a week. 1200km of commuting each week. He did this with a combination of car, bike, and train. It took him about 3 hours each way.)

Note that a lot of the roads don’t have sidewalks so even if you want to walk it can be kinda dangerous depending on time of day.

Based on cities I’ve lived in:

  • convenience store: 300m
  • chain supermarket: 800m
  • bus stop: 500m
  • train (metro) station: 1km
  • park: 1.5km
  • library: 1.5km
  • big supermarket: 2.5km
  • long-distance train station: 2.7km
  • my current commute: 3km

The cities tend to be a lot more walkable, but you still need to take the car or train to get to things like by the bigger (and cheaper) supermarket and other stores. The train is slow and unreliable (sometimes it’s faster to walk than take the train) so cars are much more popular.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Here are my walking distances in Seattle:

  • Convenience store: 150m
  • Chain supermarket: 30m
  • Big supermarket: 1.6km
  • Bus stop: 10m
  • Park: 100m
  • Library: 150m
  • Train station: 2km

Straight-line distance to Space Needle: 4.3km

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It isn't just that things are too far to walk, it's that American car companies have made it part of our culture to own and drive, and it's unpatriotic to do otherwise. That causes a severe lack of public transportation and sidewalks and bike lanes. So because of all this, I have to drive a mile through my neighborhood to get to a 7-Eleven that would be a quarter mile if I walked.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

Nearest grocery store is a little over 3 miles. Libraries about four and a half miles. Nearest passenger train is about 200 miles away. I think there's a bus stop about half a mile away but I don't know if it's a full-service one.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I live in rural Ohio and I drive about 40 miles (65 km) round trip a day just getting to and from work, and that's pretty average for a rural area.

The nearest grocery store and back is about a 15 mile (25 km) round trip.

In the rural areas, which account for most of the land area of the US, things are far enough apart that it makes it impossible to survive without a vehicle.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I live in a walkable neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia. I have grocery stores in walking distance but usually drive to nicer ones for big hauls. I drive to the gym. I could bike there but there’s no bike lanes and steep hills. Everything else on your list is just a few blocks away.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

I'll chime in since I'm in Canada, which is sadly just US delayed by 20 years.

I can walk to a convenience store with high prices in about 5 minutes or 360 metres and little else. It's all residential beyond there until a 25 minute walk or greater and everything is spread out. The main shopping centres you might want to walk around are an hour walk away. To reach the store I actually shop at for reasonable prices, it's a 12 minute drive or a 7400 metre walk (a miserable one with spotty sidewalks)... just for fun, it's about 45m by bus BEST CASE but realistically you will take an hour unless you hit the exact right bus at the exact moment it pulls up.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

I live in a semi rural area. My closest grocery store is 10km, but it's down the interstate, meaning even if I wanted to walk it, I couldn't. Without using the interstate it's about 15km.

My closest convenience store is only 7km, but the road i live on is not safe for walking (lots of blind curves, no sidewalks)

My nearest bus stop is 60 kilometers away, in my nearest city.

Nearest library is about 4 km past the convenience store, so 11ish klicks

Nearest train station is give or take 300 kilometers. We don't really have any train service here.

Straight line distance from me to big Ben, give or take 6,500 kilometers

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)
  • Nearest market: 600m
  • Nearest big supermarket: 5.2km
  • Nearest bus stop: 5km
  • Nearest park: 1km
  • Nearest library: 1.6km
  • Nearest train station: 26km

Having a small market so close is a massive improvement from my previous address, where the only option was a big supermarket 3.9km away.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Distances seem about the same in my small US town.
No train.
Little further to Big Ben, i think.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (3 children)

I live in New York (city):

  • Convince store: several within 1-2 blocks
  • Grocery store: 1 block away
  • Train station: 3 blocks away
  • Park: less than a block
  • Library: Very short train ride (4 stops) and a bit of walking (15 minutes) (there is a closer one but that requires a bus and considering New York traffic busses aren't the best).
  • Statue of Liberty: Roughly 2 hours by train
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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Let's give it a shot. I live in the suburbs of Lincoln, Nebraska, which is an average-sized college town in the US (about 300k residents):

  • Nearest convenience store: 1.1 miles/1.7km (we often do walk there, takes about 20 minutes)
  • Nearest chain supermarket/big supermarket (they are often one in the same here): Target @ 1.5 miles/2.4km
  • Bus stop: 1.3 miles/2.1km
  • Nearest park: 0.6 miles/965m
  • Nearest public library: 3.5 miles/5.6km
  • Nearest train station: 9.1 miles/14.6km (we don't really use trains much at all in the US, though)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago
  • To the nearest convenience store: 1.3km (small supermarket)
  • To the nearest chain supermarket: 2.25km (Trader Joe's)
  • To the bus stop: 321m (busses 30 minutes apart)
  • To the nearest (public) park: 1.1km
  • To the nearest big supermarket: 2.89km (Safeway)
  • To the nearest library: 1.3km
  • To the nearest train station: 1.8km

Straight-line distance to Golden Gate Bridge: 11.6km

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Living in a small town in central North Carolina (answering these questions in units of city blocks that are ~150 meters long or in statute miles:

To the nearest convenience store: 4 blocks

To the nearest chain supermarket: 2 miles

To the bus stop: ~35 miles (It's a distance to the nearest town with a bus service)

To the nearest park: 8 or 9 blocks

To the nearest BIG supermarket: 2.5 miles. The "nearest chain supermarket" is a Food Lion; slightly farther down the road is a Wal-Mart and a Harris Teeter about the same distance away.

To the nearest library: 3 blocks

To the nearest train station: 4 blocks.

Straight-line distance to Big Ben: ~4000 miles. juuuust out of earshot. I don't recommend walking.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Nashville TN suburbs and here are my walking distances:

To the nearest convenience store: 6km
To the nearest chain supermarket: 11km
To the bus stop: 6km 
To the nearest park: 4.1km
To the nearest big supermarket: 12km
To the nearest library: 13km
To the nearest train station: 25km
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

But what's your straight line distance to the Parthenon?

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

I live in NYC. It's one of the few large places in the US that's dense and not completely car focused.

Convenience store: 5 minute walk to several

Supermarket: several within 10 minute walk

Pharmacy: several within 10 minutes on foot

Library: I think there's two within 10-15 minutes walking

Restaurants: several within 10 minutes on foot

Subway: about 5 minute walk. There's also a bus stop there.

Very large park: 15 minutes or so

I never want to live somewhere where I need a car again. Someone I was talking to at a party the other day was like "I love having my car it's so much freedom" and I'm like aside from needing to fuel, maintain, insure, and store it I guess.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

I live out west. Think of how far would be intolerable to walk in 45 degree heat and then add 30 minutes standing by the road, waiting for traffic lights to change, so you can attempt to cross without a crosswalk or a sidewalk, while you roast in the added heat from car exhaust.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Depends on the state. There are places where stores are 2+ hours away by car.

In my area, it falls into 2 categories-

  1. Things are 20-30 min by car and are 20-30 miles away (highway)
  2. Things are 20-30 min by car and are 3-5 miles away.

This is totally based on traffic and roads- I’m in the woods outside Washington DC, so while the density is high in the cities, I’m 15 min from literally everything minimum (by car). I couldn’t walk or bike to a store, I’m 30ish min from work combination highway and local roads.

If you live in a city, you might live literally on top of stores in the same building. Shopping centers with above condos and apartments are becoming a popular replacement for shopping malls in my area, but are very very expensive (often over $1million) for a townhouse in one of these shopping “communities”.

I buy nearly everything online and have it delivered, most stuff (groceries, goods, electronics, housewares, etc) come between 0-3 days.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

I went to College about 65 miles west of Chicago (or about 1 hour driving). One weekend some friends decided to take a road trip to Maine so one friend could confess their love to someone. They left Friday after classes ended and drove nonstop, took one hour in Maine for the friend to get shot down, and then dove back. They didn't get back until late Sunday night. That's about 1300 miles and with a few bathroom/food stops 24 hours each way.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Things around me aren't that far per se, but you have to cross a 45mph road (where people regularly drive 55-60 because it's designed like a highway) along several sections of unconnected sidewalk if you want to get there without a car. The sidewalks are 4ft wide at most and have no separation from the car lanes so you have to walk with cars whizzing by just a couple feet from you. There's also no shade.

For reference - it takes 5 minutes to drive to the nearest grocery store 1 mile away, but walking it's 31 minutes with the unpleasant conditions I mentioned. So I've never walked there. I could bike and it would take 10 minutes, but biking along cars at 50mph doesn't sound fun. I also live on a bike path, but it doesn't go to the nearest grocery store so the nearest one along the bike path would take the same amount of time as if I walked to the nearest one (25 minutes). That one is 3.5 miles (11min) by car or a 1hr walk.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

My refrigerator is annoyingly far from my desk chair.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

In my home town getting to most basic necessities took 20min driving. Mind you that was the capital city of my state

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

Nearest convenience store is 200m Chain supermarket is 200m Bus stop is 150m Library is 50m Park is 500m Train station is 800m

NYC makes everything easy

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