My friends and coworkers already know that I walk to work on a regular basis.What they probably don’t know is the story of why I walk instead of taking public transportation in the city.
A few years ago when I started commuting from North Beach to downtown San Francisco the traffic was not nearly as bad as it is today but it still took me between 30 and 40 minutes to get to work on MUNI. Sometimes I would let 1, 2 or 3 crowded buses go without being able to hop on them. I tried to go with the flow and experiment with different bus stops, different times and different bus lines. The question started popping in my mind about the possibility of walking (after all, it was just 1.5 miles!).
I couldn't realistically walk 1.5 miles in the above stilettos. I ended up getting comfy sneakers for the walk.
It sounds funny but what kept me from walking on a daily basis was my fashion sense. Mix sneakers with my stylish work clothes? NO way! Walking 1.5 miles in stilettos? NO way either!! Once I became pregnant with my first baby though, everything changed. I tried to stick to my routine, but the 30 bus was painfully slow going through Chinatown. Then my belly started protruding a lot more and I hoped some kind soul would give me their seat but nope, that wasn’t going to happen. So I decided then and there to take things in my own hands and to ditch the stilettos (only for the commute of course). My mom once told me after she visited New York: “Women in New York are dressed super stylish but wear sneakers!” In good rational economist fashion I weighed the pros and the cons of walking versus taking the bus:
Walk vs Take the Bus Table - One side was clearly a winner.
Pros
- Same or shorter commute
- Healthy
- Autonomy (leave at the time you want, not at the time the bus comes)
- No claustrophobia
- Great start to the day
- FREE
Cons
- Style: not so great (mixing sneakers with stylish work clothes)
- Would need to carry my shoes in my purse
Ahem...So I embraced wholeheartedly New York Fashion and I am happy to say that my new adventure is what lead me to create our company Mode Citron! How? Stay tuned for our next blog post :)
