[reaperducer]

I live in a place where the walkscore is like 30

Walkscore isn't a realistic measure of anything.

I once lived in a place with a Walkscore of 80+. Looking at the details of the score, it was largely because Walkscore counts pornography shops as bookstores.

Along those lines, I imagine Walkscore also counts peep shows as movie theaters, and strip clubs as general family entertainment centers.

Meanwhile, in Seattle it was 2 miles to get to the grocery store and took all day while dealing with city car traffic.

When I lived in Seattle, I didn't even own a car. I could get everywhere I need to on a bus, or train, or walking. Perhaps you have a different definition of "downtown" than where I lived. If you were two miles away from the Whole Foods on Westlake, then you weren't downtown.

[dghlsakjg]

Haha. I had the same reaction. What Seattle were they living in? I suppose parts of north Seattle can kind of be like that.

My experience living in Seattle was that it was hard to live in a place where there wasn't a small commercial district within a few blocks. Seattle does wonderfully with mixing small commercial into residential zones.

[hikawaii]

I put my car in storage, it was doable but it wouldn't have been without uber, going anywhere via transit would've involved at least one twenty minute transfer.

I mostly just hoofed it everywhere, but it did limit my access substantially.

Meanwhile, unless it's very cold or I'm going to a different city I have much less of a need for a car in my more rural locale.

[reaperducer]

I put my car in storage, it was doable but it wouldn't have been without uber

Why not? I lived in Seattle for years without a car, before Uber was even invented. Get an Orca card, and a ZipCar subscription for once-a-month trips. Problem solved.

[hikawaii]

Having to take any transfer at all adds fifteen minutes to a trip, scheduling issues and a life pattern that routinely had me in Fremont, Bellevue, etc.

Went to SoDo a fair bit and that was always an extreme chore despite the short distance.

Walking .8 to whole foods and back with a weeks worth of groceries wasn't unlivable or anything, but I had to pay 50% more for food to even get that close.

Today, I walk like a quarter mile for groceries basically whenever I'd like and don't have to deal with city traffic.

The point is not Seattle bad or transit bad, the point is that despite a design with many more "car centric" elements, I have an easier time walking and biking here than I did there - so you can't lay all urban problems at the feet of cars and assume that pro density urbanism magically fixes them.