[bluGill]

I don't understand - why can't I?

I have a 40 minute work to work that passes by a bakery. Sometimes I take the bus which passes right by that same bakery. Sometimes I drive which passes by the same bakery. I have stopped in that bakery while driving, and while walking, it make no difference. In fact the car is more flexible because a 5 minute detour lets me stop by a supermarket that is an extra 15 minutes while walking. (the bus only comes every 30 minutes so stopping in the middle to run errands isn't practical even though it detours to that supermarket)

[0b0001]

Assuming you're in a city made for humans:

You pass by the bakery. You're not hungry… but it does look delicious. You go back, look through the windows again -- and decide you are hungry!

If you're in a car, you don't stroll around. You drive where you want to drive. Even discovering new things is hard since the people behind demand you don't slow down.

(this is loaded with personal experience and preference, I can perfectly understand this doesn't match yours.)

[Terr_]

It's a surprisingly weird experience when you've been driving a particular commute for a long time, and then someone else does the driving one day.

As a passenger, suddenly you become aware of all these objects and sights that you simply couldn't spare the time or attention to look at when busy in the driver's seat.

[larnmar]

One of those rare cases where driving is healthier than walking.

[mgolawala]

I agree a car is more flexible and it scales UP very well to allow for longer distances but it scales OUT very poorly. For a unit of sidewalk or road, you can support an order of magnitude more people walking to their work, or stopping by the bakery, vs driving to their work and filling up the parking lot. ie. It works great if you or a few people are the only ones doing it. But if everyone is doing it, you all end up miserable sitting in a traffic jam, or frustrated that you cannot find a parking spot at the bakery.

[smileysteve]

Part of it could be estimated to be stopping, parking (or drive thruing); accumulating several minutes.

Fun recent anecdote, a coworker passed me in his car while I was walking to work, because of the time for him to park, we arrived at the coffee machine at the same time.