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Permalink Reply by Liz on April 26, 2012 at 7:52am

My experiences in NYC and DC have proved that their transit systems are easy to navagate and connect well to suburban areas.  Chicago gets overall low scores, because while some areas of the city are extremely well connected, large portions of the south and west side have very large spacing between bus lines that do not run frequently.  

That said, I find walkscore doesn't always reflect the quality of what's within walking distance.  The walkscores of my apartment in Roscoe village is only slightly higher than the one I had in Humboldt park, but the Roscoe village apartment has many more places I desire to walk to.  Walkscore often considers "liquor marts" that sell junk food and booze in the same catagory as "grocery stores", additionally despite requests for them to remove closed businesses, these would often remain listed on the site as open. 

The transit scores of the 2 neighborhoods was also very similar, despite that I have 3 frequent bus lines now within 1/4 mile, were in humbolt the 3 close bus lines were 1/2 mile and run less frequently.  My commute from both areas was 6 miles and involved a bus to L transfer.  In Roscoe it takes me 30-40 minutes door to door, in Humboldt it would take me 45-60 minutes. 

While I think its a good tool to get an idea of walkabililty, the score doesn't say it all, and it doesn't take into account differences between various businesses. 

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Permalink Reply by Nançois on April 26, 2012 at 9:18am

I used to live in Sheridan Park, where the nearest grocery store was 1 mile away from my apartment and the nearest el stop was half a mile, and yet the walkscore of that neighborhood is 97--the third highest in Chicago. Now, in Edgewater Beach, I have a walkscore of 88 but have two grocery stores within three blocks, an el stop, and seven bus lines. I don't get it.

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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on April 26, 2012 at 11:03am

I agree.

I live right behind Alderman Rey Colon's office and my walkscore is only 88 and my transit store is only 71.  

Really, almost everything I could possibly want is RIGHT THERE other than a good hardware store and we literally LIVE right over the underground Logan Square L station.  

How could it be better?  I really would NOT want to live any closer to a big grocery store like Dominicks or Jewel because an excellent smaller market like Sunshine wouldn't exist nearby and would be pushed out of business.     Sure, i do wish that Ace Hardware near Diversey/Milwaukee was still there, but there is one just a mile and a train stop away. It's literally a 3-minute pedal down there and I can drop in The Bike Lane while I'm there.  heck, I can walk to Boulevard Bikes in 3 minutes if ALL my bikes are broke down and I need parts...

Nançois said:

I used to live in Sheridan Park, where the nearest grocery store was 1 mile away from my apartment and the nearest el stop was half a mile, and yet the walkscore of that neighborhood is 97--the third highest in Chicago. Now, in Edgewater Beach, I have a walkscore of 88 but have two grocery stores within three blocks, an el stop, and seven bus lines. I don't get it.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Zumwalt on April 26, 2012 at 12:00pm

Walkability is based on other factors such as crime and those cities are also smaller than Chicago (NYC excluded) 

Beside we're only 14th on the Hipster list of cities.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on April 26, 2012 at 12:05pm

+1

Liz said:

My experiences in NYC and DC have proved that their transit systems are easy to navagate and connect well to suburban areas.  Chicago gets overall low scores, because while some areas of the city are extremely well connected, large portions of the south and west side have very large spacing between bus lines that do not run frequently.  

That said, I find walkscore doesn't always reflect the quality of what's within walking distance.  The walkscores of my apartment in Roscoe village is only slightly higher than the one I had in Humboldt park, but the Roscoe village apartment has many more places I desire to walk to.  Walkscore often considers "liquor marts" that sell junk food and booze in the same catagory as "grocery stores", additionally despite requests for them to remove closed businesses, these would often remain listed on the site as open. 

The transit scores of the 2 neighborhoods was also very similar, despite that I have 3 frequent bus lines now within 1/4 mile, were in humbolt the 3 close bus lines were 1/2 mile and run less frequently.  My commute from both areas was 6 miles and involved a bus to L transfer.  In Roscoe it takes me 30-40 minutes door to door, in Humboldt it would take me 45-60 minutes. 

While I think its a good tool to get an idea of walkabililty, the score doesn't say it all, and it doesn't take into account differences between various businesses. 

• ▶ Reply