1. People Who Walk 30
Minutes a Day
Personal Interviews and Case Studies
Nikil Viswanathan
nikil@cs.stanford.edu
S

2. People
S Usha – Mom, Entrepreneur
S Tara – Works in NYC
S Jason – Student

3. Usha
S Mom, Entrepreneur
S Walks 2 miles around her house in the evenings with her
dog and husband
S Started because she was really tired after work and too
tired to go running so she said let’s some kind of exercise
in.
S Motivation: Health & Fresh Air

4. Usha
S Comes back home from work
S Changes into relaxing / walking clothes
S Cooks and eats dinner
S Puts on shoes (dog is excited and jumping up and down at this point) (Domino
Trigger)
S Goes on a small walk
S Comes back, picks up leash, puts on dog
S Goes on walk with dog

5. Tara
S Undergraduate at Wharton
S Walks to class at school ~ 1 hr/day
S (best medium of transportation, bikes / skateboards not
feasible – lots of roads, no parking)
S Walked to work in NYC ~ 1hr each way
S (whereas everyone else took the subway)

6. Tara in NYC
Reason for walking 1 hour to work each day
S Could multitask
S In charge own route
S Time to catch up with people on the phone
S Guaranteed time – subway was anywhere between 30 – 1hr if
you caught the train exactly (otherwise you had to wait for next
train, underground, sweaty, and no cell reception and you were
just standing there so walking at least gave you some
exercise), also trains are crowded in the morning so not
guaranteed that even if there is a subway that you could get on
S Cab – expensive, take a long time, cab driver was in charge of
your own route

7. Tara
Walking to work in NYC
S Get ready for work
S Put on comfortable pair of shoes (pack nice fancy shoes)
S Walk out of door
S Call friends

8. Jason
S Undergraduate at Stanford
S Freshmen Year - Had bike – walked 1/3 of the days
S Reasons: “Likes walking, don’t have to lock up bike, don’t have to worry about bringing it
anywhere, all you have is what is on you, slower pace, enjoying the walk”
S Sophomore /Junior Year - Bike stolen, bought longboard - walked ½ of the days
S Walked when sore from playing soccer or not in the mood because longboarding is more
demanding than walking and biking
S Walked when just wanted to relax and look around – didn’t really care about being late to
class.
S Senior year – walked ¾ of the time
S Went to class less
S Walked most places (like when going to go work on own project, relaxing, subconscious is
thinking about things, my time, longboarding demands more focus)

9. Jason
S Only has 1 pair of shoes – so puts it on regardless
S Walking out the door
S Decisions
S Am I going to do something creative or not
S Do I have enough time to walk (working on my own thing, have all the time in the
world, class – is it okay to be late to this class, can I sneak into the back)
S Do I wan to carry my long board?
S Did I play indoor soccer / work out last night? (if so might not kick well because sore)
S If walk – then walk out the door
S If longboard – grab longboard and go

10. Conclusions
S Two main factors:
S Health
S Relaxation and Leisure
S Surprising - Often found that total time to destination was
not the primary decision factor. Primary Motivators:
leisure, multitasking (call friends or think about own
creative projects), and current physical status.

11. Thank you!
Contact Nikil
nikil@cs.stanford.edu