Does anyone else experience the phenomenon of perceiving the duration of a commute to be shorter when the distance is shorter? For example, it feels like it takes less time or is more enjoyable to walk 3⁄4 mile in 15 minutes than to travel a few miles by subway in 15 minutes. I think its because being close in proximity makes me feel like “Hey I’m basically there already” where as traveling a few miles makes me think “I’m not even in the same neighborhood yet” even though both of these take me the same amount of time.
For me an important aspect is feeling of control. 15 minutes of walking is more pleasant that 10 minutes of waiting for bus and 5 minutes of travelling by bus.
Every now and then, I decide that I don’t have the patience to wait 10 minutes for a bus that would take me to where I’m going in 10 minutes. So I walk, which takes me an hour.
I had the opposite effect recently—I thought that I’d save time by waiting for the bus, but it turns out that walking gets me to work from the train about 12 minutes sooner. Coming back, I don’t have a ridiculous wait, so I still take the bus.
I could do even better if I got some wheels of some sort involved. Maybe it’s time to take up skateboarding. Scooter? Bike seems like it would be too cumbersome, even if I can get one that folds up.
If the commute is mostly flat, consider Freeline skates. They take up much less space than any of the mentioned wheels; the technique is different from skateboarding but the learning curve isn’t any worse.
Not in general, but I recognize your example. Walking is pleasant and active and allows me to think sustained thoughts, so it makes time ‘pass’ quickly. Whereas riding the subway is passive and stressful and makes me think many scattered thoughts in short time, so it makes time ‘pass’ slowly, making the ride seem longer. Also, if you walk somewhere in 15 minutes that probably takes about 15 minutes, but if you ride the subway for 15 minutes that probably takes more like half an hour from when you leave home to when you get to your goal.
More generally, I’ve noticed I tend to underestimate how much time it passes when I’m directly controlling how fast I’m going (climbing stairs, driving on an open road, reading) and overestimate it when I’m not (using an elevator, driving in congested traffic, watching a video).
Short-distance public transport is an exception: once I’m on the bus, it feels like it takes 5 minutes to get from home to the university, but it actually takes 20.
Does anyone else experience the phenomenon of perceiving the duration of a commute to be shorter when the distance is shorter? For example, it feels like it takes less time or is more enjoyable to walk 3⁄4 mile in 15 minutes than to travel a few miles by subway in 15 minutes. I think its because being close in proximity makes me feel like “Hey I’m basically there already” where as traveling a few miles makes me think “I’m not even in the same neighborhood yet” even though both of these take me the same amount of time.
For me an important aspect is feeling of control. 15 minutes of walking is more pleasant that 10 minutes of waiting for bus and 5 minutes of travelling by bus.
Every now and then, I decide that I don’t have the patience to wait 10 minutes for a bus that would take me to where I’m going in 10 minutes. So I walk, which takes me an hour.
I had the opposite effect recently—I thought that I’d save time by waiting for the bus, but it turns out that walking gets me to work from the train about 12 minutes sooner. Coming back, I don’t have a ridiculous wait, so I still take the bus.
I could do even better if I got some wheels of some sort involved. Maybe it’s time to take up skateboarding. Scooter? Bike seems like it would be too cumbersome, even if I can get one that folds up.
If the commute is mostly flat, consider Freeline skates. They take up much less space than any of the mentioned wheels; the technique is different from skateboarding but the learning curve isn’t any worse.
I have discovered that I am so terrible at skateboarding and rollerblading that self-preservation requires me to stop trying.
Not in general, but I recognize your example. Walking is pleasant and active and allows me to think sustained thoughts, so it makes time ‘pass’ quickly. Whereas riding the subway is passive and stressful and makes me think many scattered thoughts in short time, so it makes time ‘pass’ slowly, making the ride seem longer. Also, if you walk somewhere in 15 minutes that probably takes about 15 minutes, but if you ride the subway for 15 minutes that probably takes more like half an hour from when you leave home to when you get to your goal.
More generally, I’ve noticed I tend to underestimate how much time it passes when I’m directly controlling how fast I’m going (climbing stairs, driving on an open road, reading) and overestimate it when I’m not (using an elevator, driving in congested traffic, watching a video).
Short-distance public transport is an exception: once I’m on the bus, it feels like it takes 5 minutes to get from home to the university, but it actually takes 20.