Based on data from Apple’s Mobil­i­ty Report, walk­ing increased dur­ing the pan­dem­ic in every region of the coun­try, surg­ing 122 per­cent in the Mid­west. As report­ed by Patrick McGre­gor, as pan­dem­ic restric­tions began to wind down, search­es for walk­ing direc­tions increased at dra­mat­ic rates.

Because pub­lic tran­sit puts peo­ple in close prox­im­i­ty to oth­ers in enclosed spaces, “it’s more appeal­ing, and frankly, healthy, to walk, bike or scoot to your des­ti­na­tion rather than crowd­ing on a sub­way train.”

“[R]esidents of Mil­wau­kee and Vir­ginia Beach, Va., are walk­ing more than ever — both reach­ing highs of 178% and 187% in July, respec­tive­ly, and far out­pac­ing any oth­er increas­es in dri­ving any­where else in the coun­try.” Mean­while, “walk­ing search­es in Jack­sonville, Fla.; Sacra­men­to, Calif.; and Phoenix are con­tin­u­ing to climb, even after rebound­ing com­plete­ly by June of 2020. Those search­es are up 70%, 65% and 48%, respec­tive­ly, com­pared to Jan­u­ary 13, 2020.”

In some cities, such as Boston, Austin, Chica­go, and New York City, pub­lic tran­sit use has also bounced back to above pre-pan­dem­ic lev­els. “Over­all, it appears that we’re mov­ing more and more as a nation. And, while this data does­n’t include air trav­el or hotel book­ings, look­ing for direc­tions is a very strong indi­ca­tor of trav­el­ing — regard­less of the means.”