Getting around score

[pdxtex]

Walkscore obviously rates walkability, but it also tracks transit and bikes. I added all three together to see who wins at getting around, besides your mom!

NYC, 246
SF, 238
Vancouver, 233
Boston, 225
DC, 215
Chicago, 214
Minneapolis, 210
Philadelphia, 209
Seattle, 205
Montreal, 205
Good ol Portland 199.

I excluded Arlington, VA with 202 as its mostly contiguous with DC. Terr derr.

[sopas ej]

Interesting...

In my SoCal world, this is how some cities fared.

The two largest cities of Los Angeles County:
Los Angeles, 180
Long Beach, 192

Orange County's County Seat:
Santa Ana, 173

Orange County's most populous city:
Anaheim, 142

Inland Empire's County Seats:
San Bernardino, 120
Riverside, 122

The largest metropolis south of me:
San Diego, 134

[pdxtex]

San Diego surprises me. It seems like it should be higher. Ill have to read about their methodologies a bit more. Long Beach does great for bikes and walking but takes a hit at transit. Apparently Portland has bad transit too. Its only 49?? Their transit methodology seems interesting. Sounds like it measures distances between stops on separate routes to form some kind of matrix?? I guess the smaller the grid the better the system?

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

San Diego surprises me. It seems like it should be higher.

I am not, actually. San Diego is not a densely populated city and is very car-centric. I've taken the San Diego Trolley a few times from Old Town to the Convention Center area and back to Old Town and it wasn't crowded.

For shits and giggles, I decided to do a few more cities:

Bay Area:
Oakland, 197
San Jose, 152

California's Capital:
Sacramento, 150

The so-called Sun Belt:
Phoenix, 133
Tucson, 144
Dallas, 134
Houston, 132
San Antonio, 112
Austin, 131
Atlanta, 133

[homebucket]

Adding some other Bay Area cities:
Berkeley - 228
Palo Alto - 189
Sunnyvale - 178
San Mateo - 172
Hayward - 152
Fremont - 140
Santa Rosa - 125
Walnut Creek - 115
Vallejo - 110

[sopas ej]

Where I live:
South Pasadena, 168

Neighboring cities (aside from LA proper) I'm in very often:
Pasadena, 190
Glendale, 168

[Wigs]

Upstate NY

Downtown Buffalo 241
Downtown Rochester 234
Downtown Albany 233
Downtown Syracuse 215
Downtown Utica (no transit score) 133

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Where I live:
South Pasadena, 168

Neighboring cities (aside from LA proper) I'm in very often:
Pasadena, 190
Glendale, 168

Where my brother used to live adjacent (West) to Old Town Monrovia, 173

[pdxtex]

Rochester looks really good in a few parts. That park ave neighborhood and s. wedge seem cool. Buffalo too. I want to walk that whole Elmwood Ave.

[pdxtex]

Neighborhood scores are interesting too. I live in Sellwood in Portland. It's like post hipster rad dad families, old hippies and last gen townies. Its 219. Awesome walk and bike score but bad transit.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

Neighborhood scores are interesting too.

Totally.

Downtown Los Angeles, 270
West Los Angeles, 235
Hollywood (Studio District), Los Angeles, 220
Westwood, Los Angeles, 190

Downtown Pasadena, 238
South Lake Avenue District, Pasadena (near CalTech), 237

[pdxtex]

So the unicorn is 300. That must be someplace in Manhattan. DTLA is really high. Good job there.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

Rochester looks really good in a few parts. That park ave neighborhood and s. wedge seem cool. Buffalo too. I want to walk that whole Elmwood Ave.

The best of Rochester is similar to the best of Buffalo thanks to ROC city's (or Raw-cha-cha) early tech industry--the trifecta of Kodak, Bausch & Lomb, Xerox.
I had a friend who worked for Bausch & Lomb and got the latest and greatest contact lenses for free.

For Buffalo:

Streetview Elmwood, Allen, Hertel (walkable but doesn't look great on streetview--nicer in person)

Basically any streets between Richmond and Linwood are great
Check out the Olmsted parkways (Bidwell, Chapin, Lincoln), also streets like Nottingham Terrace area, Parkside Ave, Depew Ave and surrounding streets.

Delaware Ave is the former Gilded age Millionaire's row with examples from when Buffalo was 8th largest city in America and one of the wealthiest per capita. It's still a prestigious address today.

Buffalo has such a wealth of great architecture, pound for pound better than any city in America I've seen. A few people went to painstaking detail when the internet was early to create this page Buffalo as an Architectural Museum
I wish it was modernized but it's full of great info.

[JManc]

1) Fremont has no downtown and the only walkable areas are the parks and maybe the Niles District.

2) Downtown Utica NY (133) is not more walkable than downtown Houston. Downtown Utica is pretty much one main drag.

3) Syracuse has an amazing walkable downtown esp. around Armory Sq. and so does Albany and Buffalo.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by JManc

1) Fremont has no downtown and the only walkable areas are the parks and maybe the Niles District.

2) Downtown Utica NY (133) is not more walkable than downtown Houston. Downtown Utica is pretty much one main drag.

3) Syracuse has an amazing walkable downtown esp. around Armory Sq. and so does Albany and Buffalo.

JMan, here's the map area of downtown Utica

[Steely Dan]

my neighborhood of lincoln square on the far northside of chicago gets a 254.

walk: 99
transit: 70
bike: 85

not too shabby for being 6.5 miles outside of downtown.

[Klippenstein]

Originally Posted by JManc

1)2) Downtown Utica NY (133) is not more walkable than downtown Houston. Downtown Utica is pretty much one main drag.

I'm assuming that the score for Houston by sopas is for the whole city.

[homebucket]

The TL clocks in at 291 with 100 walk, 100 transit, and 91 bike scores.

Edit: looks like Civic Center is even higher at 297 with 99 walk, 100 transit, and 98 bike scores.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

my neighborhood of lincoln square on the far northside of chicago gets a 254.

walk: 99
transit: 70
bike: 85

not too shabby for being 6.5 miles outside of downtown.

That's amazing. Idyllic city life, to me!

For Buffalo, 6 miles north puts one in the inner ring streetcar era suburb of Kenmore which is probably one of the most walkable suburban areas of Western NY. It's the only one that truly feels like a continuous extension of the city.
Most people I knew that lived in the city before kids, bought a house in Kenmore to raise a family. When asked why they didn't stay in the city? Buffalo Public Schools.

Kenmore photo thread
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenmore,_New_York

Where my friends live is very walkable, 0.6 mile straight shot to grocery store, 0.5-1 mile to most restaurants/bars,mom&pops, elementary/middle/HS, library, yet it gets a walk score of 43

The best walk score I could find in Kenmore was 80.
Transit score pathetic 35-37, bike score 45-52. That would give a getting around score ~160-165

Hilarious that a streetcar suburb without the streetcar now has transit scores so pathetic. North America, what are we doing?

Kenmore, NY 165

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

my neighborhood of lincoln square on the far northside of chicago gets a 254.

walk: 99
transit: 70
bike: 85

not too shabby for being 6.5 miles outside of downtown.

My address scores a 283 (walk 98, transit 100, bike 85).

Not sure why the bike score is so low to be honest...