The Last Mile

My longstanding belief (could be false?) is that many people have no concept of how far a mile is. It sounds like a long way. It's a 20ish minute walk, give or take, depending on your speed. Whether that's a pleasant and safe walk depends on a variety of factors, and how pleasant and safe a walk it is will affect your perception of it. If you can stop for a beer or some groceries somewhere on the way home that walk won't seem like such of a burden, either. Anyway, the distance isn't really the problem. The transit "last mile" problem isn't really one of distance (yes, yes, anything which increases a commute time for busy people is a problem, I get that), it's of walkability. If the area exists for cars, it's not very walkable even if you can, technically, walk. If it exists more for pedestrian comforts, then that mile doesn't seem so bad.