rockmom

I walk often, more than I bike. I've always liked walking better than any other form of transportation.

Ekdog

I prefer cycling. Walking is too slow and cars are too fast (and polluting, and dangerous, and ugly and largely responsible for oil wars and space hogs and energy hogs and noisy and uncivilized and pretentious and causers of obesity and ...)

Cars, how do I hate ye? Let me count the ways...

wolfchild

Oh my..

Smallwheels

Walking is more comfortable for me. Unfortunately most of the places I need to go are several miles away. I like walking to the post office and the convenience store (when I'm willing to pay 30% more to save time). My body just likes to move in that natural way. Cycling is faster and comfortable but not natural. I've even owned a couple of recumbents that were even more comfortable than my conventional ride. I still prefer walking.

If I were forced to walk long distances I might change my mind about it. Wearing a heavy back pack is not something I like whether walking or bicycling. Shopping is one thing bicycling does better. Racks and panniers don't put pressure on my shoulders or neck.

There is a guy I've seen walking over the last couple of years. He does it when I'm on my way to work and on my way home from work. I don't know where he begins or where he ends his walks. I just know they are at least three miles one way. One of my jobs is three miles away. There is no way I would walk for two hours per day to go to work, though in the past I've ridden a bicycle fifty minutes to a job. My time is important to me. Walking takes too much of it.

My Xootr saves me a lot of time relatively speaking. I can go to the post office and return home in the time it takes to walk there. It is a great tool for short trips. That is why I bought it and I haven't been disappointed with it yet. I highly recommend them.

Ekdog

?

wolfchild

The topic was pedestrian locomotion, this thread shouldn't be a dumping ground for anti-car,anti-driving ideology.

Ekdog

Sorry. I know that some of you are über-sensitive to any criticism of the sacred automobile, but I was under the impression that this was the Living Car Free sub-forum. When comparing walking to cycling, it seems most fitting to compare them both to driving.

zeppinger

Agreed. In may ways the focus of the forum is anti-car even in name. Perhaps we should change it to the Bicycle as the Primary Form of Transportation subform to preserve the sanctity of the automobile culture?

Ekdog

Roody

Although "anti-car" messages are posted all the time on the road forum and A&S forum without comment, on this forum such statements will be harshly dealt with. It's sorta like the time Oprah Winfrey made an anti-beef statement in Texas and got sued for millions of dollars.

I bet this thread will be locked, or "certain posts" will be deleted within the next few hours.

For the record, I don't find your post to be off topic. if somebody has been a pedestrian for very long, they are either anti-car or a liar. Even more than cyclists, walkers are constantly threatened by distracted motorists while navigating streets that were designed by engineers who are clearly "pro-car" and "anti-walker." Right turn on red has killed hundreds of pedestrians, but it gets motorists to their destinations a few seconds quicker, so pro-car people love it. You will pry their steering wheels out of their cold dead fingers before they give up their right to turn on a red light.

Try walking across a five or six lane road when the nearest crosswalk is a half-mile away, or 20 minutes round trip out of your way. Try using that crosswalk when the only window for pedestrians to walk is 10 seconds out of every four minutes, and even during that time, cars legally continue to make turns through the crosswalk. Try this at night. Try it if you're a senior citizen, a child, or God forbid blind.

And yes, this is an actual intersection that I frequently do use. It's a horribly dangerous intersection, but it does get thousands of cars through efficiently. There are many thousands of intersections like it. Often I use it with my young grandson, and I always fear for his life. So if I, or any pedestrian, am "anti-car"--there is a good reason for it.

Newspaperguy

Bashing cars or car culture, even on a forum such as this one, will not bring others into the car-free or car-light fold. If anything, it will create more animosity between them and us. If this forum becomes an anti-car forum rather than a pro-bike forum or a forum for transportation alternatives, we will lose far more than we can ever hope to gain.

chewybrian 

When I read what Ekdog wrote, I just laughed. I assumed he was only half-serious, and perhaps trolling for a troll. It wasn't really personal, even anti-driver; just anti-car.

zeppinger

Which intersection is that? It could be dozens of them I know in Lansing and East Lansing....

zeppinger

I agree with you for the most part but again, the name of the forum says it all. If we are car-free in opposition to all others who are car-trapped, then we have already made a judgment about them.

Roody

I was thinking of Grand River Ave. and Marsh Rd. One of my grandson's favorite activities is to take the #1bus to Okemos to spend hi allowance at the mall and Best Buy. I enjoy it too, but neither of us likes crossing Grand River there.

Roody

All these years of being nicey-nice haven't gotten us very far either. Maybe we need to capitalize on the fact that many people who drive cars hate them even more than we do, and they would get out of their cars if they thought the culture and the infrastructure would support them.

CbadRider

Correct. Starting an anti-car argument will derail the original intent of this thread. Anyone who wants to carry on the anti-car discussion can feel free to start a new thread on that topic.

Newspaperguy

I know of nobody who has changed a political affiliation, religious belief or world view because their position was ridiculed. If anything, such treatment results in even more of a hardline stance than the person had before. Why would it be any different with one's choice of transportation?

no1mad 

I'm walking far more these days than riding my bike as well, mainly due to:

-Lack of cycling infrastructure in my town.
-Justifying the cost of service/repairs that are beyond my skills is a bone of contention with a non-supportive SO.
-My vision is getting to the point where I question my own ability to safely ride.

Roody

Sorry, we're not allowed to discuss.

gerv 

Sorry to hear that. I see many folks around here who continue to ride into their 80s. I guess they get their cataracts removed and are good to go for a while.

no1mad 

Cataracts would be preferable to glaucoma...

Anyway, this thread has given me an idea for a spin-off of sorts....stay tuned