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274

To Americans: How far apart is everything in the US? (lemmy.zip)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by dch82@lemmy.zip to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

234 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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

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[–] stinerman@midwest.social 6 points 1 month ago

I live in a suburban area of Columbus, Ohio.

To the nearest convenience store: 1.5km
To the nearest chain supermarket: 3.7km
To the bus stop: 450m (this bus runs once per hour)
To the nearest park: 1km
To the nearest library: 5.5km
To the nearest metro train station: 195km in Cleveland, Ohio (Columbus is the largest city in America by population that has no passenger rail service)
To the nearest intercity train station (Amtrak): 162km in Sandusky, Ohio (This comes through once per day at around 3 or 4 am)

You also mention you can get somewhere within 10 minutes of walking. A lot of Americans will refuse to walk that far. For many people in the country and the suburbs, the bulk of the outdoor walking they do is to/from their cars and to get the mail.

It's hard for Europeans to understand, but nearly all American cities are built around the concept that everyone has their own car and drives everywhere to get around. Even things that are 5 minute walks, Americans will get in the car and drive to. Mass transit (again in most cities) is coded as "for poor people who can't afford a car", so it's always difficult to use and is much slower than having your own car.