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

  • Figbash33@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    13 hours 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

  • Podunk@lemmy.world
    0·
    6 days ago

    My closest superstore an hour drive away. 60 miles. The closest grocer is 12 miles. My closest international airport is 1.5 hours away. It is also the closest regional airport. 85 miles. The closest national park is 3 hours. I live 6 miles from my closest town.

    There are no passenger trains, busses, or taxis. Or uber.

    Rural america is empty. And spread out. We get along fine, but public transit will never exist here. Cars are the only way.

      • bluewing@lemm.ee
        0·
        6 days ago

        So how does rail solve the Last Mile problem? It does no good to say “take the train” if the nearest train station is 60 miles away. And is it the best use of a train to run tracks to a town/village with a population 150 people or less?

        • dustyData@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          6 days ago

          Light rail and buses? Even the most remote rural towns in Japan have small shuttle buses that serve even the sparsest areas. The great thing about public transit is that it is actually scalable if there’s political will to make it happen. A shuttle bus can connect a rural neighborhood to a big train station within 60 minutes. The cool factor of transit is mix and matching several types of transport to cover the most area with the highest mobility for the widest array of people.

          • bluewing@lemm.ee
            1·
            5 days ago

            Japan still has a higher density of population and far less landmass to cover. My nearest neighbor is over a mile away. Are you going to build a bus route or light rail just for me? Or through county, state, and federal forest lands? Logistics is a bitch.

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
    0·
    7 days ago

    Depends.

    If you live in a very rural area it can be more than an hour by car to some of these things, 50 miles or more, other items may not exist at all like public transportation. Inter-city public transportation is all but imposable for smaller locations, difficult and lengthy the greater the distance and size differential in locations.

    I used to live in a metro area. Everything was within 10 minutes walk except medical care, but walking to the subway would get you to top tier medical facilities in about 15-20 minutes. Getting to nearby “bedroom” communities was also pretty easy thanks to a commuter rail.

    I now live in a suburban area that has OK bus service but it’s not very convenient to where I live at all. Everything is within a 10 minute drive, and unfortunately a car is necessary due to the lack of sidewalks in many places. It does have light rail to a major metro area, about two hour’s ride, and then you can access the metro area major transportation network to all nearby areas and further away. Probably about as good as it gets in the US.

    Nearest store of any kind - 1 mile

    Full serve store - same

    Library - .75 mile

    Bus stop - 1.2 miles

    Small park - .5 miles

    Large park - 3 miles

    Access to light rail - 4 miles

    • AbsoluteChicagoDog@lemm.ee
      01·
      7 days ago

      Knock off this “public transportation is only for big cities” propaganda bullshit. The US literally had a comprehensive rail network. The town of 1000 I used to live in had a train that connected to anywhere in the nation in the 1930s.

  • Platypus@lemmings.world
    01·
    7 days 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