Your house to the city center, how do you get there?

[Shalmanese]

In another thread about segways, I made the comment that Kaman made a mistake pitching the segway to the US first because the US is so car-centric and public transport poor.

Anyway, imagine you had to plan a hypothetical trip into a random place in the city centre that you might want to go to. What are you alternative modes of transport and what would they involve? Try and include as many as possible, even if they are blatantly impractical.

For me:

Car: By car, it takes about 15 minutes to drive with no traffic, about 30 minutes with, about 2 hours if theres a football game on since my route passes by Sydney's main stadium. Once I'm in the city, it would take me at least 10 minutes to find a parking spot in a parking garage somewhere and probably another 10 minutes to get to where I'm going. Parking would cost between $7 and $15 AUD. Streetside parking is virtually non-existant.

By public transport: Luckily, the bus route runs fairly close to my house. It takes 10 minutes to walk to the bus stop, usually between 5 and 10 minutes waiting for the bus, then about 40 minutes to get into the city. It would take about 5 minutes to walk from where I'm dropped off to where I want to go. Bus fares are $1AUD each way.

Walking: I've only done this once when there was a bus strike but it would take approximately an hour to an hour and a half. Luckily, I was with a group of friends so it seemed much shorter.

By Bike: I've never done this but a friend tells me it would take about 40 - 45 minutes.

[Cunctator]

I don't have a car, so it's a choice between using public transport or walking. Generally I catch a bus, which takes about 10-12 minutes to get into the CBD. I can also take a train, but they're so unreliable I don't usually do so.

Or I can walk, which I do quite frequently. From my place into the CBD is about a 45 minute walk.

[RealityChuck]

Car -- about ten minutes to downtown.

Bus -- It's at least a half hour, and to get to the actual downtown, I'd have to change busses (though I could walk from the bus station to downtown).

[rocking chair]

going from my house to city center, i would walk. about 20 minutes to 45 minutes depending on where in c.c. i'm going. home to work about 40 min. home to shop/food court 20 minutes.

there are 2 buses in my area that would get me there. 1 bus gets me to work 15 minutes quicker, the other about 10 minutes quicker.

i have seen 4 people using segways in the city so far. in the states big city boston , nyc, and philly would lend themselves to the segway. they are walking cities.

[Jonathan Chance]

Small town America, here.

No bus or public transportation available.

By car? 2 minutes to go 2 blocks. That includes getting in and out and walking from parking to my destination.

Walking? 5-8 minutes depending on where downtown I'm going.

Really, it's very close.

Curiously, though, this town would be a great one for a Segway.

[Anaamika]

Car - 10 to 15 minutes.

Bus? Walk two miles to the bus stop, which isn't the end of the world, but still. From there the bus goes straight downtown.

[Low Key]

Let's see...
In Auckland, NZ where I am now:
Walk: I do this every day - takes about 20min

Car:I don't own a car, but it would take about 5min to drive into CBD, I suppose. And then I would have to find parking and pay for said parking, so I would guess it would take about 15min total and be ridiculously expensive for the marginal gain in time/convenience.

Bike: Would take about 10min, I guess. Would be a bit of a pain biking home as it is mostly uphill in this direction. I don't much like biking anyway.

Bus: This would take about 10-15min total depending on how long I have to wait for a bus. It costs 50c. I do this when I'm late or feeling lazy.

In Glasgow, Scotland:
Identical to Auckland (except for the difference that I rarely go into CBD there, as I have no reason to since the university is not there).

In Gothenburg, Sweden:
Mostly the same as Auckland except here I take public transport much more due to it being much better than the poor attempt at a public transport system in Auckland. Or, if my little brother isn't using it, I take his moped frequently. Easily the best way to get around a city (much faster than by car because you can cut past traffic at red lights or cut through parks (illegal, but who cares?)).

I wouldn't buy a Segway in any of these places because they look really stupid. Otherwise, I guess they would be practical in any of the citys I live in. I guess the moped is somewhat similar to using a Segway, but faster and I can use it to travel furthur than I could use a Segway.

[Lsura]

Youngstown, OH:

By car: leave apartment, turn right. Keep going, turn right again to Rte 7. Go straight, end up downtown. 10-15 minutes.

Public transport: leave apartment, walk to bus station (maybe 1/4 mile). Pay $1, ride on bus ...maybe 30 minutes until reaching downtown.

Walking: probably same route as driving, but not a chance would I walk down some of the roads as a woman alone. No idea how long it would take.

[Jayn_Newell]

Walking--Halifax, at least on the peninsula, is a great walking city. It's about a half hour from here to downtown on foot (around 40 minutes to my old place, which was a bit south of downtown).

Bus--Depending on which bus I take, 5-8 minute walk. I have the Go-Time* number for the one I usually take memorized, so I can call ahead and time it so that I don't have to wait long. About a ten-fifteen minute trip. Unless it's between midnight and 6 AM, then its...

Cab--Around $5-6 at night, probably ~$8 during the day. I don't cab if I can help it though.

*When you call it'll tell you how long until the next bus arrives at that stop

[PigBoy]

Dayton, Ohio:

Car: Probably 15 minutes or so.

Bus: Not possible without first driving several miles to the nearest bus stop. (It's a countywide system; unfortunately there are several suburbs, including mine, that are not in any sense far-flung but are in a different county.) But it'd be a cool trolley bus, at least!

Walk: Dangerous, but it could theoretically be done. It'd probably take at least a few hours.

Bike: This can be done almost entirely on bike paths, though the route is not direct. Maybe one hour.

[dalej42]

Depends on which downtown. I live midway between Dallas and Fort Worth. Walking isn't an option. I imagine it would take hours and there is no way it could be done. Car: about 20-30 minutes without traffic. There is a train and I live close to a train station. The walk isn't far, but since there aren't sidewalks for most of the way, it isn't fun to do. Train also would take about 30 minutes once it arrives and I board.

[davenportavenger]

Pittsburgh, PA (Bloomfield to Downtown):

---by car: 20 mins driving, 10 minutes to find parking, never done it myself because I don't drive but I have been driven downtown by others
---by bus: 5 mins walk to bus stop, 30 mins drive downtown, I do this every working day
---by bike: never done it, but I'd estimate it would be a little less than an hour
---walking: at least two hours, longer to avoid dangerous high-traffic roads... not feasible

[fishbicycle]

Tallahassee:

Walk or ride my bike 3/4 of a mile to the end of the bus line. There's one bus per hour, 7 AM until 6 PM, then there are no buses at all. $1 fare. The trip takes 25 minutes or so.

By car: 10 minutes from driveway to downtown.

Walking downtown? Forget it! A couple of hours in the Florida summer? No way!

Riding my bike downtown? Forget it!

Besides which, there is nothing downtown. Downtown is what you pass through while going to some other place that has a business you need. Poor planning, if you ask me.

[psycat90]

Our town has a Farmer's Market downtown every Wednesday night during the summer months. We try to head down there every other week or so though last summer we were there nearly every week since we'd joined one of the local biking coalitions and were volunteering.

Our main transportation to that event is biking. The coalition offers free valet parking for bikes at the market, and other events around town (festivals, parades, movie nights, etc.) and downtown is about a 5 minute bike ride from our house.

Driving a car would take just about as long, and there is plenty of metered parking that is free after 6 PM on weekdays and all day Sunday, and a couple of garages that are about 50 cents an hour, and the mall parking garage (free.)

Riding the bus would take 10 minutes or so (assuming you arrive at the stop when the bus arrives, it's every 30 minutes on a weekday and runs until a little after 8 PM), considering stops, and a bus stop is about 100 feet or less from our front door. A one way adult fare is $1.

Walking would take about 20 or 30 minutes.

Taking a taxi would take about 30-45 minutes, considering response time for putting a call in to a cab company to the cab arriving to pick you up is pretty rotten around here. And it would cost you about $10. Expensive.

[LavenderBlue]

Suburbs of New York City to Manhattan:

by car 30 minutes or so depending on traffic

by bus 50 minutes to the Port Authority bus terminal

Walking is not an option.

[Si Amigo]

Take a right, walk about a mile and half thru suburbia. Then you are there. Nice, Northville, Michigan. Nothing special, but nice. ;) I like it like that. :wally

[Danalan]

Walking (by far the easiest)
1) Walk down the hill to the dock, about 2 blocks;
2) Take a ride on the ferry which runs every half hour from 5:00am until 10:00pm, then every hour until 2:00am, free to leave the island (coming home costs $3.40), 20 minutes;
3a) A commuter bus meets the 5:30am -- 7:30am ferries. Direct shot into the city, $3.00, 45 minutes; or
3b) Take the CT112 bus to the Transit Center, then take the ST511 bus into the city, $1.75, 1.5 hours.

By car:
1) Drive up the hill to the end of the ferry line, and inch forward until loading, 5 minutes to 30 minutes+, depending upon time of day and week;
2) Get on the ferry (see schedule above), $7.50, 20 minutes;
3) Drive to the city, 1 hour.

IMHO, the Segway won't take off until they put a seat on it. In any case, it's not an option for me.

[E. Thorp]

From north Capitol Hill in Seattle to downtown:

Walking, maybe 45-60 minutes. Either south on Broadway and west on Olive, or south on 15th East and west on John (and then Olive).

Bus, maybe 25 minutes if I correctly time my arrival at the bus stop (5-8 minute walk from home).

Car, well, who would drive downtown when living so close? But I've done it. Takes about 10 minutes if traffic isn't bad.

[flodnak]

Car: 10-15 minutes of driving time, followed by 20-30 minutes in a fruitless search for a parking space that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, followed by 5 minutes to say The Hell With It and park in the same old overpriced garage as usual.

Bus: 5 minute walk to the local bus station, 20-25 minute bus ride.

Tram: 5 minute walk to the local tram station, 20-25 minute tram ride.

[GorillaMan]

Where I am now: 25 minute drive, and expensive parking, or 30 minutes on the bus (every 15 minutes, caught from outside of my house)

When I lived in Manchester - 40 minute walk, or 15 minute bus ride. I had no car, but you'd be nuts to drive in anyway.

[LSLGuy]

Drive: Pull out of driveway onto cul-de-sac, turn onto residential street, turn onto tract main street which leeds to freeway on-ramp, then 50 minutes at 75 mph to downtown offramp. All of downtown is within 1/2 mile of bottom of ramp.

Public transport: Drive 1/2 way to downtown as above & pick up light rail at station. Ride 12 stops into downtown.

Walk / Bike: Not legal. All bridges over the river are freeways, legal only for cars, trucks & motorcycles. By going 50 to 100 miles (no exaggeration) out of the way out into far ruralia I might be able to devise a route which uses only bike/ped-legal roads. But that would entail a ot of walking/biking on narrow 2-lane country roads without shoulders or sidewalks.


Yup, I'm a typical distant-suburb American. And, no, I don't drive anywhere near as far as downtown to go to work. I think that'd be nuts, although several of my neighbors do it every day.

Now "downtown" of my little suburb, home to 3 fast food joints and a couple of generic retail stores? 5 minutes by car, 15 by bike along residential streets. But why bother?

[calm kiwi]

North Shore of Auckland.

Car: Anytime other then rush hour? About 15 minutes. Rush hour? About 40 mins-1 hr. Parking in the CBD? Very hard to find and Very expensive.

Walking/biking: Not possible from the North Shore.

Ferry: About 15/20 mins for people who live near the ferry. For me? See Car.

Bus? The Bus stop is just outside the door. It takes much the same time as the car no parking woes though.

Public transport in Auckland SUCKS. I lived in London and Sydney and sob that Auckland sucks at buses while London and Sydney excell at buses and trains.

If you ever come to Auckland you need a car.

[An Arky]

Arlington, VA, a suburb of Washington, DC:

By car, it's about 15 min to downtown DC, when it's not rush hour.

By public transport, about 40 minutes.

I could conceivably walk to downtown on the bike trail, but it's about 8 miles.

[enipla]

Car. 15 miles of two lane highway over the continental divide. Takes 20-25 minutes, depending on the weather.

No public transport.

Walking? No thanks. Take probably a good 3-4 hours.

Bike? No way am I in good enough shape for that, but some people train on this road. I think it’s positively dangerous.

No Segway for me.

[El_Kabong]

Well, The Woodlands, TX doesn't really have a city center, but if I were, say, going to the Mall or Market Street (a sort of fake 1920's downtown they're building nearby) it would take 10 minutes by car, 15 by bike, and maybe 25 walking. No public transport within the Woodlands, so far as I know.

Commuting into Houston:

Car 45 minutes, via I-45 or the Hardy Toll Road

Bus (Woodlands Express): 10 minutes by car to the park 'n' Ride, then 50 min to downtown, $8-something round trip.

No rail service, although the UP (ex-MoPac) line Conroe-Houston would make a great commuter rail corridor).

Walk/bike to Houston: completely out of the question.

[Poonther]

Tallahassee:

Walk or ride my bike 3/4 of a mile to the end of the bus line. There's one bus per hour, 7 AM until 6 PM, then there are no buses at all. $1 fare. The trip takes 25 minutes or so.

By car: 10 minutes from driveway to downtown.

Walking downtown? Forget it! A couple of hours in the Florida summer? No way!

Riding my bike downtown? Forget it!

Besides which, there is nothing downtown. Downtown is what you pass through while going to some other place that has a business you need. Poor planning, if you ask me.

Another Tallahasseean:

While I agree that there isn't much to do downtown Tally, unless you like watching State Government at work, there are a few things to do:

Farmer's Market on Saturday's
The New Coffeehouse on Park Avenue
Hemisphere Sushi Restaurant
IMAX Theatre
Plus two new 10+ story condos going up now and 2 more to follow, so I think things will get a little better

For me:
To walk downtown: less than ten minutes and yeah I'll even do it in the summer heat

To drive car: three minutes to drive there, ten more minutes searching for a parking spot and for quarters in my car to feed the meter.

Bus: 2 minute walk to bus stop where you can spend up to an hour waiting on the bus to arrive and drive you the few blocks to downtown. Walking with one leg tied behind your back would be much faster.

There's a guy on a Segway that rides past my house every day on his way to and from work.

[matt_mcl]

Metro, baby. Montreal has a big (elongated) downtown so depending on where I'm going, it can take me anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes. (Many downtown things are on the green line, which means I have to change trains.)

Walking, anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.

Driving would not save time over the metro, especially considering parking.

[gotpasswords]

Well... From home to the center of which city?

To the center of the city I live in, either a 5 minute drive down the highway, or about an hour's walk.

To the eponymous center of the region - San Francisco - about 45-60 minutes drive (asuming good traffic), plus whatever's needed to get to the specific destination, or a three minute drive to the train station and 55 minute train ride. Riding a bike or walking are both impossible due to the distance, terrain and absence of roads that allow pedestrians.

[Gravity]

My house to downtown? it's a quick walk.

Montpelier is a very pedestrian-friendly town, which is good, because I don't drive.

To the center of town: cross the street, two houses to the corner. Take a right. walk about six house-sized buildings. You're in the center of town.

[HeyHomie]

Springfield, IL:

Driving: go west on North Grand (don't ask) about 2.5 miles to 5th Street. Turn left (south) on 5th Street, go about 1 miles. Arrive at 5th & Adams (that's as close to the center of downtown Springfield as you can get). Depending on traffic, about 10 - 15 minutes.

Bus: walk about 3/4 mile west on North Grand to the bus stop at Milton Ave & North Grand. The bus will take a convoluted route but will eventually wind up on 5th Street, a few blocks south of Adams. Takes about 30-45 minutes.

Walking: same as in driving. Would take about an hour, hour and a half.

[Troy McClure SF]

San Francisco here. Ten-fifteen minute drive downtown. Anywhere between five minutes to half an hour looking for street parking. Probably a five/ten minute walk from there.

By bus, five minute walk to Geary, take the 38 straight downtown. Hour total.

Biking is not my forte, but Geary is one of the flattest cross-town streets in the City (along with Park Presidio-Crossover-19th Ave), so however long it takes to bike about six miles on a busy street with a couple of hills.

I've walked it before, takes maybe two hours.

[Spectre of Pithecanthropus]

Troy, I once walked the entire length of Lombard from the Presidio to Coit Tower.

I did take the elevator up to the top of that rather than walk.

Living in West L.A. I could reach the Wilshire bus and probably make it to the western edges of downtown in about 30 minutes, if I got the express. IIRC, that runs only to the westernmost Metro station, which happens to be on a spur line, so I might then have to wait 10 or 15 minutes for a train. Total time would then be 45 - 50 minutes.

By car it could be anywhere from <20 minutes to nearly an hour depending on traffic. Walking would take hours.

[Stuffy]

to Downtown Oakland

By car: 580 freeway, 20 minutes and depending on where I'm going mayb another 10 minutes to find parking. Parkig from $0.25 to $5.00 depending on meter or controlled parking.

By Bus: 4 block walk to the 40 line. Downtown in 30 minutes $1.50 one way or $1.75 for a transfer/return trip.

By bike about 40 minutes is I don't get hit by a car. A bike lane runs about 1/3 of te way there after that you're on your own. You can also combo bike and bus but I've never tried it.

Walking probablably at least an hour. I've done it before.

To Downtown SF.

By car 580 to 80 without traffic 40-45 minutes. With traffic as much as 1 1/2 hours depending on the traffic out of Berkeley and the time of day.

By Bus: 4 block walk to the 40 line. Take 40 line about 15 blocks and transfer to a N I think (it might be a K) tnasbay fair is an extra $0.50 I think. roughly $2.75 one way. 1-1:15 hours.

By Rail. One block walk to the 56 line. 56 to BART (7-10 minutes) $1.50. Take a BART train. $3.35 the last time I took it but fairs have changed since then. 45 minutes.

Walking not possible.

[Stuffy]

Well... From home to the center of which city?

To the center of the city I live in, either a 5 minute drive down the highway, or about an hour's walk.

To the eponymous center of the region - San Francisco - about 45-60 minutes drive (asuming good traffic), plus whatever's needed to get to the specific destination, or a three minute drive to the train station and 55 minute train ride. Riding a bike or walking are both impossible due to the distance, terrain and absence of roads that allow pedestrians.


You must live in the East Bay, I'm thinking.

[Kyla]

I don't have a car, so it's pubtrans all the way. On the Brown Line el train it takes about half an hour to get to the Loop, or I can switch to the Red Line at Belmont to go to Michigan Ave. That takes maybe slightly longer because there can be a wait at the transfer. Or I can take the 148 bus, which starts close to my house, expresses along Lake Shore Drive - that can get me to Michigan and Delaware in about thirty-five/forty minutes, depending on traffic.

I can and have biked down the lakeshore bike path to downtown, but that's mostly for exercise. It's about 20 miles round trip. It takes a couple hours, I guess. I haven't done it yet this year.

Walking...well, it's not impossible, and I enjoy walking, but if I actually want to go somewhere and not just enjoy wandering around, it's not very practical.

[bump]

Depends on which city center you're talking about. I live in a suburban town north of Dallas.

If I'm going to downtown Frisco, I'd probably hop on my bicycle if the weather was nice, otherwise I'd just drive the mile up to main st, and the 2 miles over to downtown.

If you're talking about downtown Dallas, I'd hop in my car and drive the 35 minutes straight down the Dallas North Tollway.

[Larry Mudd]

I'm on the East side of Vancouver.

It's just two blocks away from a Skytrain (LRT) station, so it takes less than fifteen minutes to get to downtown Vancouver.

[Treviathan]

Since I've just moved into a place that's a hamster toss from downtown, I'll use my previous suburban basement from hell as the starting point. Without further adieu, I give you: London, Ontario.

Car: About ten minutes, by any number of routes.

Bus: Five minute walk to the bus stop, then about a fifteen minute bus trip. Exceptions include the occasional Friday night, when the bus tends to fill up with university students heading downtown to get sloshed - meaning an additional fifteen minute wait if there's no room.

Bike: About twenty minutes if you're my aerodynamic and bike-obsessed girlfriend, thirty-five if you're a grad student who hasn't seen the sun since, oh, 2002.

Foot: An hour and a half. I've done this while drunk, so I'm factoring in the two-minute pee break just north of the university gates.

Blimp: Five minutes if you don't mind crash landing on the eyesore that is the John Labatt Centre.

[Hal Briston]

Walk: About 40 minutes.

Ride a bike: About 10 minutes.

Drive: About 15 minutes.

Yep...you read that right. Welcome to my hometown....geographically quite small, and 80,000 year-round residents. 'Tis a bit crowded here.


(And since we're not far from the beach, the 15 minute drive would've been about a half hour last weekend)

[cherry]

First I drive down a highway, get to the ferry terminal, depending on the time of day, season, I wait or drive on, then I take a car ferry for 20 minutes, cross the Puget Sound, land in Mulkiteo and drive on a highway for about 30-40 minutes to get to Seattle city centre.

[Cunctator]

Public transport in Auckland SUCKS. I lived in London and Sydney and sob that Auckland sucks at buses while London and Sydney excell at buses and trains.You musn't have caught a train in Sydney in the last few years. They are now very unreliable.

[Sarah Woodruff]

You musn't have caught a train in Sydney in the last few years. They are now very unreliable.
"The....8:45.....train to.....Strathfield....is delayed....by.....46...minutes. CityRail.....appreciates your.......co-operation." :smack:

[calm kiwi]

You musn't have caught a train in Sydney in the last few years. They are now very unreliable.

You are right but I bet they still come more often then once an hour.

[GingerOfTheNorth]

Baltimore, MD from our close-in suburb of Dundalk:

Public transport: walk 5 minutes to bus stop, ride for an hour through the blight that is South-East Baltimore. Get leaned on by drunks and/or persons who smell of urine.

Drive: Fifteen minutes on I-95. Parking's easy but not cheap, unless you know where to go.

Walk: about five miles along roads (interstate highways) where people, mopeds, bicycles are illegal; Or, walk through aforementioned blight. No thanks.

I really don't have much call to go downtown. I used to work downtown, and my husband would drive me and pick me up.

[Mycroft Holmes]

A small suburb of Utrecht in the Netherlands.

If I want to go to the downtown of our small city (about 30 000 inhabitants) it works out like this:

by car: about 10 minutes.

bicycle: about 4 minutes

on foot: about 15 minutes.

The reason that it's faster by bike than by car is because our town has one road that goes around town (a "ring" or "beltway") and each neighborhood has one road splitting of from that "ring" to lead into the neighborhood. In other words, if I want to go to the middle of town by car, I have to first drive out to the "ring", drive halfway around town, and then drive into downtown. that means I have to drive about 15 km for a distance of less than 3 km as the crow flies. By bicycle I can take a straight route. The town was purposely planned this way, to cut down on traffic.

If I want to go to downtown Utrecht it works out like this:

by car: between 15 and 45 minutes depending on the traffic

by bike and public transport: 10 minutes if I get to the station right when the train leaves

on foot: at least 2 hours

The Netherlands is the perfect country for public transport. It's small and has a very high poulation density, especially around the four largest cities: Amsterdam Den Haag, Rotterdam and Utrecht.

[eleanorigby]

To my town (suburb) center--25 minute walk, 5 minutes by car, about 10 minutes by bike.

to go downtown Chicago-

-about 35 minutes by car (expressway)

-40 minutes by electric train (Metra, formerly the Illinois Central)

-walking is not an option


But hey! Metra is now allowing bikes on the trains! So you can load your bike, get off downtown and tool around! hurrah!
(it is limited to off peaks etc, but it's a start).

[Annie-Xmas]

Walking takes about 20 minutes. Buses are excellent and take about 7 minutes.

[Kyla]

But hey! Metra is now allowing bikes on the trains! So you can load your bike, get off downtown and tool around! hurrah!
(it is limited to off peaks etc, but it's a start).

You can park your bike in the Millennium Park bike garage, too. It's very nice!