I just moved to NYC from Texas. The public transit here and the walking culture is life changing! I absolutely love not needing a car and exploring the various neighborhoods and boroughs
I live in TX (originally from Long Beach, CA) I've been dreaming of a move to NYC. I have young kids that I'm not ready to uproot, but after they graduate, I really want to make the move!
@Jasonlang666 we're actually in a pretty advantageous situation right now. Their elementary school is right across the street and Jr high and high school are both walking distance, and I mostly work from home. Finding a job and a place that'll fit our family of 4 at a price we can afford near good schools feels daunting.
I was born in Havana Cuba and is not remotely closed to NYC in terms of modernism and transportation. But since the majority of the population can’t afford cars and transportation is so bad everyone just walks or ride bikes. I left my country to live in Atlanta 11 years ago and when I visit NYC I found myself back in Havana. I agree 100% that a city makes it walkable when there’s urban life all around. The noise, the people, the shops. That 10 min walk is worth having. When I stayed in NYC I walked from Central Park all the way to the ferry terminal that takes visitors to the Statue of Liberty. And the next day I walked from the Brooklyn bridge back to that same back to the hotel by Central Park. The time passed so fast but is probably the only city in this country one can do that.
i noticed this on many major boulevards in LA, empty walls, massive blockwide parking garages, stores that don’t have a street facing entrance and as a result, barely any people.
Earlier this year, there was a viral Twitter debate about whether people consider a 23 minute walk an acceptable walking distance. For everyone, the answer to this question will depend greatly on where you live. If you live in a Walkable city like New York or San Francisco, that's an easy walk. Your daily commute on public transit is likely to be much longer than that and involve lots of stairs. If you live a car centric life like most of the country, you probably couldn't imagine having to walk more than 10 minutes to get anywhere. Which is a problem, because it's a far less healthy lifestyle, cars are expensive and aren't affordable for a lot of people, and the options of places you can travel to within the same amount of time are far more limited in suburban-like sprawl than they are in a proper city.
Replacing transit with car expense is going to make up the entire difference in cost of living when I move to NYC. People just see the rent cost in NYC, which is undeniably high, but they don't factor in the difference in everyday travel expenses.
@@TrainsFerriesFeetplus, you don’t get those additional random expenses when your car breaks down. The unpredictability of your financial situation when owning a car sucks
@@GalladofBales Good point, and I'll be downsizing from a 2200 sf house to, let's say, a 600 sf 1br apartment. I lose my tax benefits of homeownership, but I won't have to pay a yard person and surely my electric and gas costs will be much lower. There are also lots of repair expenses involved with owning a home. I researched and researched the differences in the NYC area and the downpayment I would put on a condo or co-op would pay my rent for a number of years.
I frequent houston on account of my wife and downtown and east downtown are very deserted. Funny thing is downtown isn't even the most walkable neighborhood😂. Montrose is and the people that live there actually take advantage of walkable streets. The sidewalks could use some work but with how many people actually walk there you actually get the big city feel there more than you do in downtown which proves your point because of how much closer everything is
You might want to check out Pittsburgh. There’s a neighborhood called Mt. Lebanon that is very walkable, and has great light rail that serves downtown, stadiums and other amenities. This might be the kind of middle neighborhood you’re talking about
I absolutely loved your discussion of need for joining up public transit (let's not forget cycling!) with urban density and walkable streets to make that symbiotic relationship work. Great job! I lived in NYC for 25 years and only left to move to London, where they do an even better job and providing for these 2 ingredients. Keep up the great work! You might look into 'Transportation Alternatives'- maybe there is a way to weave this into your discussion of how NYC has evolved over the last few decades...
Thanks For This Wonderful Video Urban Caffeine... It Was Awesome When You Mentioned About Supporting Your Channel And Other TH-camrs, (Just Like Myself), Who Also Enjoys New Yorking Attractions As Well!!!
I don't know. I'm from Long Beach and live in a Texas suburb now. Honestly, I will never complain about LA area public transport again. Public transport is so bad here in Texas!! To be fair, I always lived in areas where there was easy access to light rail. (Downtown Long Beach, Hollywood, and Redondo Beach.) I lived without a car for years.
@@erjanica25 IKR. I dont see anything wrong with public transit in LA county. its better than stupid boring texas. If i were you i would move back at all costs. Even if its more expensive.
That part of Houston is pretty weird. It was originally a rail and industrial hub. The old station was where the baseball stadium is now. The convention center plus the freeway really disrupts the grid, so it's hard to serve by transit in any form. It's changed a lot, though, and will keep changing because at least Houston doesn't have zoning to delay development like most cities do.
I live in Montréal, Canada, in the Rosemont-Petite-Patrie neighborhood and it’s definitely walkable. I’m within walking distance of the metro and bike infrastructure here is pretty good!
To me, Public transit works in NYC because they are sometimes fast and slow due to their commuting. Most of the times, the MTA in New York City are always running their services for buses and trains 24/7. : )
I'll take the dry heat of Texas over the suffocating humidity of NYC any day. I live in Brooklyn and the stuffy heat even today was awful and it didn't even reach 90 degrees.
Thank you for another excellent and optimistic video 😊 I found myself on a bus I've never taken before, and didn't realize I was on the version of that bus that terminated earlier in the route. Thankfully it was pleasant ten minute walk to the subway stop I was headed toward!
Great video; it is no challenge for me to walk miles in NYC, but in my mid-sized southern city, sidewalks are inconsistent and there are deserts between interesting blocks. BTW, I'm moving to NYC when I retire, partially because of that.
Hi Thea love your videos! To my knowledge in the Greater Boston area, Somerville/Davis Sq area recently became a middle with a new addition to the Union Sq station(Green Line) and Assembly & Wellington & Malden Center(Orange Line). Brookline always have been like that since the T built around that historic community. Roughly 2-3 Green Line stops run through them.
Anecdote: I'm privileged enough to have relatively easy access to multiple grocery stores. I also live nestled up in a corner between two intersecting interstate highways, including a massive interchange. My nearest grocery store is a 17 minute walk/6 minute bike ride, but it involves going over this huge interchange along an arterial road with a steep overpass. Very little greenery, loud traffic, physically demanding, and nothing at all interesting to see beyond asphalt and concrete. I would much rather go a bit farther in the opposite direction on a 12 minute bike ride or 7 minute drive just to avoid having to deal with such an unpleasant experience. Even though there are parts of the longer ride that are steeper than the overpass, the ride is safer and quieter and I at least get to ride through neighborhoods and pass a few businesses along the way, and it's just overall more pleasant. I had never considered the differences in how interesting and engaging the two different trips were and how that contributed to my overall experience before watching this video, but it's totally a huge part, probably the biggest part, of it all. Cars ruin cities.
This is a good example of living in New Jersey or Long Island. Let’s say you live in Roslyn Heights or like Toms River, you would have to drive like 15-20 minutes to a bus station and take a bus from New York. If you’re living in Mineola or like Melville for example, that would be a 20 minute drive to Huntington station. There’s no bus along that travels along the route to Huntington. I know about New York City has like many bus routes and subway stations like 5 blocks from each other meanwhile living out of state or the region it’s kinda difficult. Maybe you should make a video on that about how far you have to travel to a train station from your exact location either living in a different city like Long Island or out of state in New Jersey. Kinda thinking about that since my uncle has that experience traveling on the LIRR to Penn Station
I've used public transport here. My husband used park and ride to get to downtown Dallas for work for a couple years too. Still, living here without a car is pretty unfathomable lol!
That 11 walk reminds me when I walked from a hotel to a Mexican place in Florida after my wedding. We saw google maps, and it said it was like a 20-minute walk. That's nothing, let's do it. It was awful. It took us about 40 minutes (or at least it felt like it). We were walking next to a stroad the whole time. We got stuck at a light for what felt like 10 minutes because it wouldn't switch until a car came by and triggered it for us! I considered just jaywalking, but it was a 4 lane stroad, and I wasn't comfortable doing that. On the way back, we called an Uber.
When you are walking alone down a trail in the woods it’s an enjoyable experience but walking alone down street where you feel exposed and watched by people driving by it it unnerving.
Thea is not talking about "house-ton", as in Houston Street in Greenwich Village in Manhattan. She really was talking about Houston, the city that is almost, but not quite, as large, population-wise, as Brooklyn.
We always take an ☔, not for the chance of rain, but to keep out of the 🌞 during the summer. I know we look stupid to drivers passing by while we wait for the 🚌 but we don't care...
Does it tho? The mta has been broke for decades, mismanagement of funds, trains constantly breaking down, crime, garbage and filth. Cost overruns, time delays, tons of bureaucracy to do anything, separate mta tax because the system can’t even come close to breaking even, transit deserts despite the cost, bloated salaries and budgets, business leaving nyc in records. Idk about that
I like the way Somerville, NJ is arranged. The shops are right up along the sidewalk of the main street, and the ginormous parking lot is behind the buildings with a wide and open passageway between the parking and the street. The train station is just a block from the main street. So the Communists, er, I mean the walkers and cyclists are happy. And the Freedom Lovers, er, I mean the car people, are happy, too.
@@spirit_plays it's the other way around...I didn't drive until I decided to buy a house. Couldn't afford a house in the city, so I bought a house in the suburbs and 2 cars for less that the house downtown. Greetings from Toronto 👍
@@mikvas8088 but still cars are really the problem tho the only reason y cities are so expensive now in day is because it literally illegal to build cities like they did before the 40 to 50s and everyone find them enojoyable to live in that y they are so expensive
I just moved to NYC from Texas. The public transit here and the walking culture is life changing! I absolutely love not needing a car and exploring the various neighborhoods and boroughs
*Welcome to the civilized world
Welcome to the Big Apple 🍎
I live in TX (originally from Long Beach, CA) I've been dreaming of a move to NYC. I have young kids that I'm not ready to uproot, but after they graduate, I really want to make the move!
I’m from Denver and my wife and I are moving to NYC in January. I can’t wait to never need to drive again!
@Jasonlang666 we're actually in a pretty advantageous situation right now. Their elementary school is right across the street and Jr high and high school are both walking distance, and I mostly work from home. Finding a job and a place that'll fit our family of 4 at a price we can afford near good schools feels daunting.
I was born in Havana Cuba and is not remotely closed to NYC in terms of modernism and transportation. But since the majority of the population can’t afford cars and transportation is so bad everyone just walks or ride bikes.
I left my country to live in Atlanta 11 years ago and when I visit NYC I found myself back in Havana.
I agree 100% that a city makes it walkable when there’s urban life all around. The noise, the people, the shops. That 10 min walk is worth having.
When I stayed in NYC I walked from Central Park all the way to the ferry terminal that takes visitors to the Statue of Liberty. And the next day I walked from the Brooklyn bridge back to that same back to the hotel by Central Park.
The time passed so fast but is probably the only city in this country one can do that.
I like mojitos
i noticed this on many major boulevards in LA, empty walls, massive blockwide parking garages, stores that don’t have a street facing entrance and as a result, barely any people.
Earlier this year, there was a viral Twitter debate about whether people consider a 23 minute walk an acceptable walking distance. For everyone, the answer to this question will depend greatly on where you live. If you live in a Walkable city like New York or San Francisco, that's an easy walk. Your daily commute on public transit is likely to be much longer than that and involve lots of stairs. If you live a car centric life like most of the country, you probably couldn't imagine having to walk more than 10 minutes to get anywhere. Which is a problem, because it's a far less healthy lifestyle, cars are expensive and aren't affordable for a lot of people, and the options of places you can travel to within the same amount of time are far more limited in suburban-like sprawl than they are in a proper city.
Replacing transit with car expense is going to make up the entire difference in cost of living when I move to NYC. People just see the rent cost in NYC, which is undeniably high, but they don't factor in the difference in everyday travel expenses.
@@TrainsFerriesFeetplus, you don’t get those additional random expenses when your car breaks down. The unpredictability of your financial situation when owning a car sucks
@@GalladofBales Good point, and I'll be downsizing from a 2200 sf house to, let's say, a 600 sf 1br apartment. I lose my tax benefits of homeownership, but I won't have to pay a yard person and surely my electric and gas costs will be much lower. There are also lots of repair expenses involved with owning a home. I researched and researched the differences in the NYC area and the downpayment I would put on a condo or co-op would pay my rent for a number of years.
You deserve more recognition
So true
"not all 11 minute walks are created equal" my exact thought when i visited Dallas
I live in Elmhurst. I’d consider it a “middle” neighborhood. I love exploring other neighborhoods around nyc without having to use a car.
I frequent houston on account of my wife and downtown and east downtown are very deserted. Funny thing is downtown isn't even the most walkable neighborhood😂. Montrose is and the people that live there actually take advantage of walkable streets. The sidewalks could use some work but with how many people actually walk there you actually get the big city feel there more than you do in downtown which proves your point because of how much closer everything is
You might want to check out Pittsburgh. There’s a neighborhood called Mt. Lebanon that is very walkable, and has great light rail that serves downtown, stadiums and other amenities. This might be the kind of middle neighborhood you’re talking about
I resided in Dormont for a couple of months in 2020. It's nearly the same. But those hills are no joke.
I absolutely loved your discussion of need for joining up public transit (let's not forget cycling!) with urban density and walkable streets to make that symbiotic relationship work. Great job! I lived in NYC for 25 years and only left to move to London, where they do an even better job and providing for these 2 ingredients. Keep up the great work! You might look into 'Transportation Alternatives'- maybe there is a way to weave this into your discussion of how NYC has evolved over the last few decades...
A ten minute walk in NYC gets you to more places and people than a 20-30 minute car drive in the suburbs.
Thanks!
Thank you!
Thanks For This Wonderful Video Urban Caffeine... It Was Awesome When You Mentioned About Supporting Your Channel And Other TH-camrs, (Just Like Myself), Who Also Enjoys New Yorking Attractions As Well!!!
Here in LA we have metro stations that literally have gas stations across the street. Which definitely does not help walkability
I don't know. I'm from Long Beach and live in a Texas suburb now. Honestly, I will never complain about LA area public transport again. Public transport is so bad here in Texas!! To be fair, I always lived in areas where there was easy access to light rail. (Downtown Long Beach, Hollywood, and Redondo Beach.) I lived without a car for years.
@@erjanica25 IKR. I dont see anything wrong with public transit in LA county. its better than stupid boring texas. If i were you i would move back at all costs. Even if its more expensive.
That part of Houston is pretty weird. It was originally a rail and industrial hub. The old station was where the baseball stadium is now. The convention center plus the freeway really disrupts the grid, so it's hard to serve by transit in any form. It's changed a lot, though, and will keep changing because at least Houston doesn't have zoning to delay development like most cities do.
Gotcha. I figured as much. I'm rooting for that area to develop. The train is Just. Right. There.
I live in Montréal, Canada, in the Rosemont-Petite-Patrie neighborhood and it’s definitely walkable. I’m within walking distance of the metro and bike infrastructure here is pretty good!
To me, Public transit works in NYC because they are sometimes fast and slow due to their commuting. Most of the times, the MTA in New York City are always running their services for buses and trains 24/7. : )
I'll take the dry heat of Texas over the suffocating humidity of NYC any day. I live in Brooklyn and the stuffy heat even today was awful and it didn't even reach 90 degrees.
Thank you for another excellent and optimistic video 😊 I found myself on a bus I've never taken before, and didn't realize I was on the version of that bus that terminated earlier in the route. Thankfully it was pleasant ten minute walk to the subway stop I was headed toward!
Great video; it is no challenge for me to walk miles in NYC, but in my mid-sized southern city, sidewalks are inconsistent and there are deserts between interesting blocks. BTW, I'm moving to NYC when I retire, partially because of that.
I want to retire in NYC too!
Hi Thea love your videos! To my knowledge in the Greater Boston area, Somerville/Davis Sq area recently became a middle with a new addition to the Union Sq station(Green Line) and Assembly & Wellington & Malden Center(Orange Line). Brookline always have been like that since the T built around that historic community. Roughly 2-3 Green Line stops run through them.
Hi Thea. How are you doing today? You are an awesome TH-camr and you know your way around, and that's good.
Nailed it again! Jeff Speck would be proud of you! 😊
Thanks! Please say hi for me.
@@UrbanCaffeine Will do! :)
Totally agree with you!
The No Turn On Red rule makes walking better unlike next door in NJ.
This video really nails it!
Anecdote: I'm privileged enough to have relatively easy access to multiple grocery stores. I also live nestled up in a corner between two intersecting interstate highways, including a massive interchange. My nearest grocery store is a 17 minute walk/6 minute bike ride, but it involves going over this huge interchange along an arterial road with a steep overpass. Very little greenery, loud traffic, physically demanding, and nothing at all interesting to see beyond asphalt and concrete. I would much rather go a bit farther in the opposite direction on a 12 minute bike ride or 7 minute drive just to avoid having to deal with such an unpleasant experience. Even though there are parts of the longer ride that are steeper than the overpass, the ride is safer and quieter and I at least get to ride through neighborhoods and pass a few businesses along the way, and it's just overall more pleasant.
I had never considered the differences in how interesting and engaging the two different trips were and how that contributed to my overall experience before watching this video, but it's totally a huge part, probably the biggest part, of it all.
Cars ruin cities.
This is a good example of living in New Jersey or Long Island. Let’s say you live in Roslyn Heights or like Toms River, you would have to drive like 15-20 minutes to a bus station and take a bus from New York. If you’re living in Mineola or like Melville for example, that would be a 20 minute drive to Huntington station. There’s no bus along that travels along the route to Huntington. I know about New York City has like many bus routes and subway stations like 5 blocks from each other meanwhile living out of state or the region it’s kinda difficult. Maybe you should make a video on that about how far you have to travel to a train station from your exact location either living in a different city like Long Island or out of state in New Jersey. Kinda thinking about that since my uncle has that experience traveling on the LIRR to Penn Station
I just moved from NYC To Dallas last year and it was a dramatic wake up call
NYC is one and only. 30 min or less no rush walk in the City is usually an enjoyment in most cases…
Hi. 1 thing i noticed in nyc and just thought id mention it....90% of coffee shops dont provide straws!!
I love using public transportation in NY, boston, Rome, Paris, and many other cities, but even though I live in Texas, I would never use it there.
I've used public transport here. My husband used park and ride to get to downtown Dallas for work for a couple years too. Still, living here without a car is pretty unfathomable lol!
That 11 walk reminds me when I walked from a hotel to a Mexican place in Florida after my wedding. We saw google maps, and it said it was like a 20-minute walk. That's nothing, let's do it.
It was awful. It took us about 40 minutes (or at least it felt like it). We were walking next to a stroad the whole time. We got stuck at a light for what felt like 10 minutes because it wouldn't switch until a car came by and triggered it for us! I considered just jaywalking, but it was a 4 lane stroad, and I wasn't comfortable doing that.
On the way back, we called an Uber.
Houston used to have great public transit decades ago.
When you are walking alone down a trail in the woods it’s an enjoyable experience but walking alone down street where you feel exposed and watched by people driving by it it unnerving.
On top of feeling lonely and depressing, a lack of pedestrians in an area inherently makes it more dangerous to be a pedestrian there
Finally someone said it! We need to realize that depending on where you live, the walk time may be the same but the experience is not.
I agree when I went to TX using the lightrail is cool but u end up at some parking lot lol
I moved from Oklahoma to Portland and I love being able to not have to drive. I wish the city would do something about the housing problem doe
10:52 I found the missing middle housing. It’s all hiding in Philadelphia.
Just a friendly note...in New York, we pronounce it "house-ton." 🙂
Thea is not talking about "house-ton", as in Houston Street in Greenwich Village in Manhattan. She really was talking about Houston, the city that is almost, but not quite, as large, population-wise, as Brooklyn.
@@martincruz8319 Okay, but why an egg?
We always take an ☔, not for the chance of rain, but to keep out of the 🌞 during the summer. I know we look stupid to drivers passing by while we wait for the 🚌 but we don't care...
Hi I want u to reply urban caffeine plsssss 😊 oh and did u make the LIC vid yet??
She did. Released it 3 months ago or so.
@@Eli-pj8xm oh ty
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👍🙂
a 10 minute walk is not ideal? whaaaaaa?
I hope the melting bomb pop was stock footage. It's a sin to waste a tasty treat.
Does it tho? The mta has been broke for decades, mismanagement of funds, trains constantly breaking down, crime, garbage and filth. Cost overruns, time delays, tons of bureaucracy to do anything, separate mta tax because the system can’t even come close to breaking even, transit deserts despite the cost, bloated salaries and budgets, business leaving nyc in records. Idk about that
Not with the current crime and people not paying fairs etc...
@Jasonlang666 Don't be dense. They reclassified crime. So you can steal up to like 900 bucks from stores and its not a crime etc...
@@armchairwarrior963Another so-called Alpha Male clutching his pearls walking near a subway entrance...😏
I like the way Somerville, NJ is arranged. The shops are right up along the sidewalk of the main street, and the ginormous parking lot is behind the buildings with a wide and open passageway between the parking and the street. The train station is just a block from the main street. So the Communists, er, I mean the walkers and cyclists are happy. And the Freedom Lovers, er, I mean the car people, are happy, too.
You forgot to mention Economics. Ppl move to the suburbs due to high prices in the city. Greed is at fault...not cars ..
Great videos👍🇨🇦
Cars also has to do with this cuz suburbs exists cuz of cars
@@spirit_plays it's the other way around...I didn't drive until I decided to buy a house. Couldn't afford a house in the city, so I bought a house in the suburbs and 2 cars for less that the house downtown. Greetings from Toronto 👍
@@mikvas8088 but still cars are really the problem tho the only reason y cities are so expensive now in day is because it literally illegal to build cities like they did before the 40 to 50s and everyone find them enojoyable to live in that y they are so expensive
@@mikvas8088 cuz unlike in the suburbs u don’t need a car to live in a city like that and everything is lively there
Houston is horrible
horrible? Its shit.
Cool vid thea do you have a discord?
Yes actually. I just finished setting up a server for all Patreons and TH-cam members. All tiers have access.