One thing I've noticed over the past few years is that people have a really poor sense of distance. Regularly people write about ONE MILE as if it's some sort of extreme distance. A mile is a 22 minute leisurely walk, and you can certainly do it faster than that (obviously I'm talking about people who don't have mobility constraints).
So, yah, all things being equal, the closer the better, but a mile from a major transit station just isn't that far.