Americans Are Walking 36% Less Since Covid

[pikachu]

Bike trips are up tho!

Across the US, walking activity has declined sharply since the start of the pandemic, even as pedestrian deaths climbed to a 40-year high last year. Meanwhile, cycling trips have soared.

Between 2019 and 2022, annual average daily walking trips fell by 36% nationwide, according to a new report published Thursday by the transportation analytics firm StreetLight Data. Every state in the contiguous US and the 100 most populated metropolitan areas saw a drop of at least 20%.
…
But while multi-year data shows widespread declines, year-over-year trends are “some cause for optimism,” according to the report. In 18 metros, walking trips increased between 2021 and 2022. Metros in California took 9 of the top 10 spots for year-over-year growth, with the largest gains in daily pedestrian trips in Los Angeles (19%) and San Diego (14%). New York City ranked 10th, with a 7% gain.
…
This alarming new record comes even though vehicle trips also dipped from 2019 to 2022, albeit by just 4%, according to the StreetLight report. Despite fewer pedestrians and slightly fewer vehicles in the streets, traffic experts say motorists are driving faster and more dangerously, tempted in part by emptier roadways during the pandemic. Cars have also gotten bigger, heavier and higher off the ground, which make them deadlier upon impact. Traffic enforcement, meanwhile, has fallen off substantially due to police staffing shortages and policy changes.
…
The overall decline in walking stands in stark contrast to gains in cycling, including on bikeshare systems. Across in the US, some 113 million trips were made on shared bikes and electric scooters in 2022, according to a separate report published Thursday by the National Association of City Transportation Officials. That’s up from 112 million rides in 2021, and double the number of trips taken during the first year of the pandemic. “We're seeing these systems continue to recover from the depths of the pandemic,” says Billy Richling, communications manager for NACTO.

[dead0man]

I know I need to walk more.

<I'm starting to get that thing were minor leg wounds take many months to heal, which Google tells me is due to poor circulation which I have due to all of my lifestyle choices.  Walking helps.  I should make lifestyle changes, and I will eventually, I'm juss a stubborn asshole.>

[Lief 🗽]

I know I need to walk more.

<I'm starting to get that thing were minor leg wounds take many months to heal, which Google tells me is due to poor circulation which I have due to all of my lifestyle choices.  Walking helps.  I should make lifestyle changes, and I will eventually, I'm juss a stubborn asshole.>

I was warned about the random back pain and the gaining weight but no one told me the worst part of aging is that all your injuries start taking longer to heal, even minor ones.

[dead0man]

I know I need to walk more.

<I'm starting to get that thing were minor leg wounds take many months to heal, which Google tells me is due to poor circulation which I have due to all of my lifestyle choices.  Walking helps.  I should make lifestyle changes, and I will eventually, I'm juss a stubborn asshole.>

I was warned about the random back pain and the gaining weight but no one told me the worst part of aging is that all your injuries start taking longer to heal, even minor ones.

my favorite part (sarcasm) is if you sleep wrong one night (you know, exactly the same way you've slept nearly every other night), your shoulder might hurt for 8 weeks.  Aging sucks, but it's better than the alternative.

[Del Tachi]

Probably related to the increased prevalence of remote work.  It's much easier to walk to lunch or to run an errand when you're working in a downtown office block, less so when you're working from home. 

[RFK Jr.’s Brain Worm]

I’m definitely walking more. I probably get at least 10 miles in every week since the start of COVID.

[Inmate Trump]

I’ve been walking more.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I've been walking more, but now that it gets dark at 5pm, before I leave the office, walking after work is less enticing.

[Aurelius2]

I've actually been walking far more since covid. But I'm weird.

[GP270watch]

I saw so many families biking and walking during the pandemic in my neighborhood which was really out of the norm and it has pretty much stopped. I am a lifelong lover of walking, you were anatomically designed to walk. It helps your circulation, breathing, lymphatic system, digestion, and stress. Everybody should walk more.

[Kamala's side hoe]

I’m definitely walking more. I probably get at least 10 miles in every week since the start of COVID.

Same, some of it is from finding ways to get cardio in outside of gyms.

[John Dule]

Probably related to the increased prevalence of remote work.  It's much easier to walk to lunch or to run an errand when you're working in a downtown office block, less so when you're working from home. 

Gee, it sure would be nice if people's homes were within walking distance of errands and restaurants. Oh well, no use dwelling on something we all know to be impossible!

[It’s so Joever]

Because I live in a major city with strong public transport, I don’t have a car. I’ve definitely been walking more than before.

[Electric Circus]

Remote work is a contributor, with particular weight on remote meetings, rather than just full-time work-from-home arrangements. Almost everyone is more comfortable with "doing business" remotely, even if they're working out of an office building. It's reduced a lot of friction and I think it's where a large portion of the productivity gains in remote work are coming from.

People also walk less if they don't feel as safe in public spaces. We need to make it 2019 again in terms of traffic enforcement and quality-of-life policing.

The bikeshare/e-scooter numbers are interesting. I had no idea the rise in those modes of transportation was so substantial. Maybe a lot of those journeys are displacing walking miles.

[RFK Jr.’s Brain Worm]

I’m definitely walking more. I probably get at least 10 miles in every week since the start of COVID.

Same, some of it is from finding ways to get cardio in outside of gyms.

For me, it’s a combination of birding and on Thursdays, talking on the phone for a few hours, which leads me to walk around my neighborhood.

[Landslide Lyndon]

I know I need to walk more.

<I'm starting to get that thing were minor leg wounds take many months to heal, which Google tells me is due to poor circulation which I have due to all of my lifestyle choices.  Walking helps.  I should make lifestyle changes, and I will eventually, I'm juss a stubborn asshole.>

I was warned about the random back pain and the gaining weight but no one told me the worst part of aging is that all your injuries start taking longer to heal, even minor ones.

A couple of years ago I fell and injured my knee. Nothing serious, when I was younger I had lots of accidents like that. But now it took two months for the pain to go away

[Associate Justice PiT]

     The underappreciated toll of pandemic restrictions on public health.

[pikachu]

Probably related to the increased prevalence of remote work.  It's much easier to walk to lunch or to run an errand when you're working in a downtown office block, less so when you're working from home.  

Gee, it sure would be nice if people's homes were within walking distance of errands and restaurants. Oh well, no use dwelling on something we all know to be impossible!

America's horror show of urban design is definitely a big part of it, but the proliferation of delivery apps since covid has made it that a lot of people don't even need to bother leaving their homes to do errands anymore. For a class of people, there's really no need to walk for any reason other than leisure.

     The underappreciated toll of pandemic restrictions on public health.

Yeah, this clearly happened b/c of restrictions, but I wonder if this would've happened at some point anyway since the main driver of the walking drop is from a covid policy that people clearly really like (work-from-home) + a drive to convenience in a lot of areas that was already happening (delivery apps, streaming, telehealth, etc).

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Further evidence that COVID was a plot to make Americans more meek.

The peak of my walking was during a period where I was outside the United States. I miss those days.

[vitoNova]

Been working from home since March 2020, and no issues whatsoever.  Still slim as a rail. And always will be. 

Don't really understand why it's so hard to adjust your daily calorie intake to match your daily activity.  Not rocket science.   And I am not one of those gay health nut calorie-counters either.  Still eat my fair share of Burger King.

Just basic common sense, IMO.

[GM Team Member and Deputy PPT WB]

I’ve been walking more, because I’m in a city where I actually can walk to things, whereas before my tiny town had nothing to go to. I was well over 200lbs in early 2020, (I think over 210 even) now I’m hovering in the high 180s and low 190s.

[Amanda Huggenkiss]

Probably related to the increased prevalence of remote work.  It's much easier to walk to lunch or to run an errand when you're working in a downtown office block, less so when you're working from home.  

Gee, it sure would be nice if people's homes were within walking distance of errands and restaurants. Oh well, no use dwelling on something we all know to be impossible!

America's horror show of urban design is definitely a big part of it, but the proliferation of delivery apps since covid has made it that a lot of people don't even need to bother leaving their homes to do errands anymore. For a class of people, there's really no need to walk for any reason other than leisure.

The first part seems to be major, though - the steps from and to your parked car are not nothing, but if that's your primary mode of transport, they don't really add up to much

[Fancyarcher]

Ironically enough, it's because of COVID that I started walking again, and this regularly.

[Middle-aged Europe]

I certainly have walked more during the pandemic (because there was not much else to do and I hate video conferences). But I have walked less since the pandemic has fizzled out (because now there are other things to do). On the plus side, I'm dancing more now.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Hogwash, we eat more, I walk all the time, it's I am eating more