Walking as a means of transport

I have always hated public transport.

I prefer walking or going by bike. Alas, bike is not always feasible – sometimes the weather is not good, or there’s nowhere to (safely) park the bike, or I am somewhere where I don’t even have a bike. On the other hand, walking is always available.

Walking enables you to feel the city/town. You will see many interesting things apart from the usual tourist attractions. You will see what the city really is like. And you will be surprised how much you remember after walking one path only two times, there and back. Even for someone with a pretty bad memory (me :-)), it’s basically impossible to forget (you will forget some parts, but when you return, you’ll remember them instantly).

“You walked all the way from there???” accompanied by a puzzled look is the usual response of inhabitants of almost any city I walk in. They have lived there for dozens of years, yet they have never walked from the train/bus station to their home/school. They always use tram/bus/subway – “it’s faster and more comfortable”. Well, I have to admit that public transport is often faster. But the difference is usually minimal. Or at least much lower than they think.

Plus the time spent walking is not wasted – walking is healthy. I don’t have time for sports (’cause I have to sit at the computer and write this post ;)), so walking kind of substitutes that. A bit. I hope.

And finally a real-life example:
I used to walk slightly over 5km to school (and then 5km back), which took 40-60 minutes depending on how much in a hurry I was. Going by tram and bus instead took about 35 minutes. There was a guy who went to the same school, but lived closer to it – by about 1km, which made it 4km distance for him. Going by tram, he had to go through the center, so it also took him about 35 minutes. He could have easily walked instead without losing any time. And he’d be healthier. And save some money, too. Yet when I asked him about it, his response suggested he never even considered walking, it never occured to him that it was a viable option. And he definitely thought I was being weird…

To sum it up: Walking as a means of transport…

• …is actually much faster than people realize
• …is healthy (and safe)
• …enables you to see what the city really is like
• …saves you money (at least enough to buy a nice map!)