Walking to and from the nearest T station to my house involves a relatively straight shot from origin to destination, so I don't tend to put a lot of thought into selecting a route, especially because the most direct route is also the most pleasant, as it takes me on the community bike path near Davis Square. The Porter Square T stop is also a comfortable walk from my house, but it's a little further away, and the walk isn't as enjoyable, so I tend only to go that way when I need to stop at one of the stores in Porter Square on my way to wherever I'm going.
On the work end of my commute, however, I have many more choices. Park Street and Downtown Crossing are equidistant from my office, and neither involves a particularly more or less pleasant walk in comparison to the other. Further, there are a couple of routes from Park Street, equivalent in distance. So, how do I decide?
In general, I select the station that's in the right direction on the rail line for the direction I'm going. If I'm Davis-bound, I go to Park Street. Headed to Andrew? I go to Downtown Crossing.
On the other hand, the walk to Downtown Crossing is almost always much more crowded in the afternoon, and because I'm a relatively brisk walker, I often find crowded sidewalks annoying in the extreme.
One of the routes I can take from Park Street involves less in the way of crowds, typically, but more in the way of construction traffic, and it also takes me past an alley where two restaurants take their trash. Though I'm not particularly squeamish, walking past there can, at times, be stomach-turning, so despite my appreciation of the less crowded sidewalks, I've recently reverted to the other route.
What factors influence your choice of walking route?
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2 comments:
Sometimes it's novelty! I can take two routes of almost equal length from the nearest T station to my house, and usually take the more obvious one – but sometimes remember the other and take it just for variety.
Passing by particular establishments (stores, coffee shops, etc) and weather are also factors in the routes I choose.
I often detour to take the slightly longer route so that I can walk down the way more pleasant bike path to Davis from Equinox. I also will choose Davis over Porter, even though Porter is closer, because it's so much less pleasant and I have to walk up the hill.
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