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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 5) 39 comments
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[–] HuntressHimbo@lemm.ee 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Same figures for me:

  • Convenience store: 2.7km
  • Supermarket: 2.5km
  • Bus stop: 4.2km (this may be incorrect I think there was a closer one that didn't show on the map)
  • Park: 6.2km
  • Big Supermarket: 3.5km
  • Library: 6km
  • Train station: 7.9km
  • Hart Plaza(nowhere really analogous to big Ben around me): 46km
[–] PolyLlamaRous@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

For me things were not in meters or feet but hours driven. From my home town the nearest stoplight was 1.5 hours away by car. This is also the closest chain restaurant (like McDonald's or simular). We had a school bus, but other than that no public transit. The next town over (15 minutes) has a supermarket.

[–] HipsterTenZero@dormi.zone 1 points 9 months ago

It's a two-hour round trip walk to the nearest convenience store, and its also through rough terrain and lawns that people don't cut

[–] papalonian@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

I live in a newly developed area. The nearest convenience store to me is a ~10 minute drive. Also, since people only started living here a few years ago, the city has only just started paying attention to quality of life things like shade trees, so you'd be walking a good 45 minutes there and back in direct sunlight.

I fucking hate this country 🙃

[–] Gingernate@programming.dev 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Phoenix suburbs

We don't really have public transportation at all

Nearest convenience store 1.5 miles

Nearest chain grocery store 4.2 miles

Nearest big grocery store (Costco)2.8 miles

Nearest library 1.9 miles

Nearest park 0.6 miles(there's a playground closer but it's tiny)

Straight line to big Ben 5285 miles

[–] Donebrach@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

According to wikipedia, the contiguous 48 states of the US (which occupy the middleish part of North America) are 8,080,464.3 km2, compared to Europe’s 10,180,000 km2, so that should give you an idea. My country is nearly as big as your entire continent, thus things are very spread out. Also our entire modern culture was designed around cars, suburbs and racism, so towns are flat, expansive and nothing is close to anything useful unless you have a car—woe to those without (myself included).

[–] Simulation6@sopuli.xyz 1 points 9 months ago

I live in a planned community where everything is supposed to be accessible by walking or biking. There are greenway paths all over the place. I generally drive because I can't carry a weeks worth of food on my bike and most destinations don't have a safe place to lock your bike up. An unattended bike seems to be considered a free bike.

[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

Bank: 24 miles / 38.6km Grocery store: 4 miles / 6.4 km Work: 50 miles / 70km Parents house: 703 miles / 1131 km

I need to move closer for work, but couldn't afford it do to dumb choices for a bit there.

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

Highest annual average miles driven per driver is Wyoming with 24,069 mi per year or about 65.898 mi a day.

Lowest is Rhode Island with 9,961 mi per year or 27.272 per day

The top 10 populous cities have the average physical distance between as 1241.3, 1070.5, and 1073.7 miles for places, urban areas, and core-based statistical areas, respectively.

The longest driveable stretch between two populations of any type is over 5,000, but the USA also has several pacific territories.

Btw I know you people tend to get confused so to prevent you from crashing and dying:

1 mi = 1.609344 km

1 km = 0.6213712 mi

Example:

1241.3 mi * 1.609344 km/m = 1,997.6787072 km

As far as walking is considered, theres a ton of grid plans as well as cul de sac plans in the USA which are frankly inferior for walkability compared to our European Neighbors.

[–] tburkhol@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Wow. I thought I lived in a pretty walkable part of Atlanta. I really only use my car for the grocery or a 'big' shopping trip.

  • Convenience store 2 km
  • Chain supermarket 1.5 km
  • Bus stop 1.3 km
  • Park 300m
  • Big supermarket 2.5 km
  • Library 2.7 km
  • Train (subway) station 1.3 km
  • Downtown Atlanta 13 km
[–] dch82@lemmy.zip 1 points 9 months ago

And I don't even live anywhere the centre: I live in one of the only London boroughs without an Underground station, that borders ~~no man's land~~ the outside of London

[–] SuperSpruce@lemmy.zip 1 points 9 months ago

Where my friend lives, in a typical American suburb:

  • To the nearest convenience store: 1.5km
  • To the nearest chain supermarket: 1.5km
  • To the bus stop: >1km
  • To the nearest park: 400m
  • To the nearest big supermarket: 1.5km (they're all the same thing lol)
  • To the nearest library: 1.4km
  • To the nearest train station: 1.7km

(These feel like clues to Jet Lag: the Game - Hide and Seek...)

[–] Figbash33@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

I have never lived in a big city, always living in the suburbs where everything is a drive away. But nothing was too far away to drive to so when I talk about where something is today, even if it's 10 miles away, I'm like "it's just around the corner".

Grocery Store: 4.4 Miles Pharmacy: 4.9 Miles Doctors: 6.4 Miles Library: 2.4 miles

[–] Platypus@lemmings.world 0 points 9 months ago

250 m to the nearest mini market

400 to the nearest mini mall

1k to the railroad station

400 to the park

150 to the (unreliable) bus stop

[–] DancingBear@midwest.social -1 points 9 months ago (7 children)
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