Street Safety

Is San Fran More Walkable Than NYC?

Remember that web site, Walk Score, that you could use to rank your neighborhood's pedestrian-friendliness? They just came out with a souped-up new version that is very cool yet somehow manages to rank San Francisco the #1 most walkable city in the U.S. and New York City #2. Is Eastern Queens really dragging us down that badly? Doesn't pretty much everyone have a car in the Bay Area? Of the 138 "Walker's Paradises" (neighborhoods with a Walk Score of 90 or higher) 38 can be found in New York.

By Aaron Naparstek

11:30 AM EDT on July 18, 2008

Remember that web site, Walk Score, that you could use to rank your neighborhood’s pedestrian-friendliness? They just came out with a souped-up new version that is very cool yet somehow manages to rank San Francisco the #1 most walkable city in the U.S. and New York City #2. Is Eastern Queens really dragging us down that badly? Doesn’t pretty much everyone have a car in the Bay Area? Of the 138 “Walker’s Paradises” (neighborhoods with a Walk Score of 90 or higher) 38 can be found in New York.

The new web site takes the opportunity to do a bit of advocacy work as well. Check this out:

You can improve America’s Walk Score by urging Congress to support walking, biking and transit in the 2009 Transportation Bill. Right now, Congress is getting ready to write the new 2009 Transportation Bill-an opportunity that only comes along once a decade. Did you know?
Congress spends about $60 billion a year on transportation.
Getting a great Walk Score doesn’t happen by chance. Walkable neighborhoods result from smart policy decisions that allocate our tax dollars and set the rules for development. Unfortunately, current federal rules and funding priorities make it difficult for communities to create walkable neighborhoods.
Walk Score will hand-deliver the list of supporters to Congress on foot, on bike, on bus, and on subway with our partner Transportation for America.

Congress spends about $60 billion a year on transportation.
Nearly 85% of that goes to expanding or maintaining highways.
Only 1.5%—about $3 per American per year—goes to support walking and biking. About 15% goes to support public transit.
83% percent of Americans live in metropolitan areas, yet only 5% live within walking distance of decent public transit.

Aaron Naparstek

Aaron Naparstek is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparstek's journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. He was also one of the original cast members of the "War on Cars" podcast. You can find more of his work on his website.

Street Safety | Transit | Transportation Policy

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