Walking in Waterloo Region

[Section ThirtyOne]

Well, that's pretty sad.

Very disappointing, when they seemingly had 8 months to prepare it.

[ookpik]

Wouldn't it be nice if GRT/ION published a map like this: New London Tube Map Shows How Long It Takes to Walk, Not Ride a Train. Likewise if this sort of information was included in the Transit app.



Note that this map shows, in addition to the usual transit routes, how much time it takes to walk from station to station. This would help people decide if it's faster to walk to their destination rather than wait for a bus or train. Those who chose to hoof it would not only get some exercise but also save the fare to take a ride (and potentially even relieve congestion on the bus/train system once our system gets to that level.)

[Canard]

I guess? But bus maps are already too confusing. Train/Rail transit maps are typically much simpler so adding a number isn't a big deal. But the GRT and TTC bus maps have numbers all over them and are virtually impossible to use.

[KevinL]

There's some utility lost in that map as published anyway - what if you're not following a line but still want to see the walking time between stations? For example, from Covent Garden to Tottenam Court Road; or Regent's Park to Bond Street. THAT would be helpful.

[ookpik]

There's some utility lost in that map as published anyway - what if you're not following a line but still want to see the walking time between stations? For example, from Covent Garden to Tottenam Court Road; or Regent's Park to Bond Street. THAT would be helpful.

The London tube map is a schematic map of the underground network, i.e. it's not drawn to scale. This is intentional in order to provide maximum clarity to tube riders who care less about actual distances than they do about how to get to destinations, the number of stops they need, at which stop to transfer and to which line it should be, etc. The walking distances are intended to address the distortions that the schematic introduces for clarity. (One example, the red line distance between Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road is shown as 9 min. The blue line distance between Oxford Circus and Green Park is shown as 15 min. Yet to my eyes both of those lines look about the same length on the map. So adding the timings does add value if you're walking from station to station above the respective lines. 

OTOH if you want to take a different route such as your examples then you need a regular map that's drawn to scale and shows all pedestrian/cyclist routes including side streets and alleys, etc.

That said, upon reflection it seems to me that while it may be novel to add walking distances to transit maps like the London tube map, perhaps it's too late to become popular. After all anyone with a smartphone could just ask Google Maps to plot the most direct course, estimate the time required to walk or cycle it and then lead them turn by turn to their destination. No paper map can do that.

[Canard]

I like when rapid transit systems have concentric circles on a big map at the station showing walking times as radii in minutes. So when you get off you can see how far things are.

[MidTowner]

Those signs are awesome. Circles do not often accurately illustrate walking times (especially in a region like ours with, ahem, less than perfect street grids), but those signs give a quick initial indication of how far a destination is by foot, and whether it's likely "walkable" for a given person. I really hope Ion has something like them at the stations.

We need more wayfinding in the Region for people on foot, generally. Downtown and Uptown (and elsewhere), it would be great to see signs with things like "King and Victoria- 5 minutes" or "Kitchener Market- 10 minutes." I've thought a few times about ordering signs for my neighbourhood from these guys.

[Canard]

They have those on some of the signs on the Waterloo trails, with a little pictogram showing the times depending if you're walking or riding a bicycle, I think. It's a cute idea.

[curious_look]

The Transit app (not the GRT one, the general one) does include walking - it will definitely tell you to walk the whole way if it will be faster then a bus.

[ookpik]

Wouldn't it be nice if GRT/ION published a map like this: New London Tube Map Shows How Long It Takes to Walk, Not Ride a Train... 

Taking this an, um, step further, Get Fit With Our Calorie-Busting Tube Map 

We started to wonder how many calories someone might burn if, for instance, they decided to swap certain legs of their journey for a walking commute.

So we set about researching the walking time between each stop on the London Underground, and the estimated calorie burn for someone of the UK average weight (11 stone [154lbs]), walking at a speed of 3 miles per hour [~5km/hr].

While we were about it, we thought we would also calculate the same figures for jogging and cycling. Here’s what we found:

[Viewfromthe42]

Was a bit shocked there for a moment, until I realized that the average weight for UK women is 11 stone (154lbs), and for men it's 13+ stone (184lbs).

[plam]

Was a bit shocked there for a moment, until I realized that the average weight for UK women is 11 stone (154lbs), and for men it's 13+ stone (184lbs).

I'm only 1 stone less than the UK womens' average weight.

I've been walking a bunch recently for various reasons (e.g. not having access to a bike). You can even walk to the airport in Zurich in 2 hours from the city center. The issue with walking is that it's just so much slower the biking. It does burn a decent amount of calories if incorporated into daily routine.

[ookpik]

Getting in shape for next year's Jungfrau Marathon?

[timc]

Those signs are awesome. Circles do not often accurately illustrate walking times (especially in a region like ours with, ahem, less than perfect street grids), but those signs give a quick initial indication of how far a destination is by foot, and whether it's likely "walkable" for a given person. I really hope Ion has something like them at the stations.

Don't we have those at the iXpress stops? Or is it just some of them? I really haven't looked closely, but there are posters that look like maps with circles like you are describing.

[MidTowner]

From the Record: Kitchener hopes hiring contractor will cut complaints about sidewalk snow

Seems like it could improve things. The worst part of the way things are now is the fact that, if someone complains, the snow still might not get cleared for weeks. It feels as though the City just doesn't care if the sidewalk is clear or not. If they can get to it within a few days with an outside contractor, that might be a good stopgap until we inevitably realize that having the municipality do it would be cheaper and better.

And staff answering the phone will note a complaint and follow-up when it's enforceable after a snowfall has ended, instead of telling people to "call back twenty-four hours after the last flake has fallen." Great.