Back in the day, did you walk?

[atotaltotalfan2001]

Reading the "Who Remembers" thread got me to, once again, thinking. Back in the day, did any of you actually walk to and from your destinations?

Ever notice how rarely kids/other people walk to get where they are going? As a Mom, I can tell you I spend A LOT of time schlepping my teenagers around to various activities -- and that doesn't even include going to and from high school. My kids are close enough to walk.

In SoCal, where I spent most of my life, I rode my bike or skateboard everywhere when I was young. Now, here in WNY, my sons ride their bikes a lot, but it makes me nervous -- so many cars out there, so many drivers who are jerks. sometimes, I almost wish they never walked or rode their bikes.

If I drove, at least I'd know they were safe!

Weird, I know. It just seems like no one, not even forever restless teenagers, walk anywhere anymore (except in the mall).

[steven]

I was raised primarily on the east side and all my girlfriends lived on the west or north side (always had a thing for those italian gals) I hiked across the city all the time rather than wait on the bus

[Ragin]

We walked everywhere.

To school, to the movie theaters, to the Aqueduct, to the Raceway, to Van Cortland Park. I suppose it was all within two miles, but we didn't care how far it was as long as we got there. "There" was always more fun than "here"

My mom didn't have a drivers license until 1974, the year we moved to the "country".
Well, it was country to us

And we walked after we moved there .. or took the Bee (county bus system) when it was too far to walk.

[OneEmerald]

As a kid, we walked everywhere. We didn't have school buses because you walked to your neighborhood school. I was never on a school bus unless it was for a field trip. Back then you had sidewalks to walk on someplace to walk to. I lived in S. Buffalo off Seneca St. There were lots of places to walk to.

Now, some of the sidewalks are unsafe to walk on and the neighborhood shops are no longer around. This is part of the reason I was so much in favor of the "New Urbanism" neighborhood that was being planned in Cheektowaga

[Shasta13]

Oh yes, I walked everywhere. It was a mile each way to elementary school. We did not finally get to take the bus until junior high. I remember crawling home (literally) from elementary school during the blizzard of 77. They let us out "early" just as the damn thing hit. As teens, unless something was quite far away, we walked. Now it seems like no one wants to walk past the end of their driveways...

[300miles]

Originally posted by atotaltotalfan2001
Weird, I know. It just seems like no one, not even forever restless teenagers, walk anywhere anymore (except in the mall).

TTF, it's not weird. You just answered it yourself. Kids don't walk anywhere anymore because parents are too paranoid to let them walk anywhere. By the time they're old enough where you feel safer, they're so used to driving that they still won't walk.

Another case: I grew up in a suburban neighborhood with the elementary school literally 2 blocks away, so we all walked. I noticed starting about 10 years ago that the town now BUSES kids from that street to the school - 2 freakin blocks away... in the suburbs!

And then people wonder why kids don't walk anymore... and they wonder why their taxes are so high. It's seems kinda obvious sometimes, just look around. If you want kids to walk more then stop driving them everywhere!

[Achbek1]

Originally posted by atotaltotalfan2001
Reading the "Who Remembers" thread got me to, once again, thinking. Back in the day, did any of you actually walk to and from your destinations?

Yes, I did walk more when I was younger. We walked to the mall, we walked down Niagara Falls Boulevard and we used to get into a lot of trouble walking to University Plaza

One thing that may have contributed to the current lack of walking is the sprawl-like layouts of some of the new residential housing subdivisions. If you live in a cul de sac a few miles from the main road, you can forget walking.

Some new upscale subdivisions are also built with NO SIDEWALKS. It seems as if that was maybe done on purpose to discourage people from walking in their neighborhoods.

[granpabob]

rode my bike or hitch hiked every where. i rode that old huffy on trips to tupper lake. to detroit to new york city to pittsburg
one of our favorite trips was to start out in the mourning and just ride until dark then the next day try to find our way home.eight or ten hours on a bike can cover over a hundred miles. it might take us two days or more to find our way home. made for an exsiting summer

[moonshine]

I grew up in a dry town and the closest bar was 11 miles away. Yeah, I walked it a few times