There are many ways to describe the distance between two points in a city. It can be expressed in terms of meters or minutes it takes to travel across. However, many factors may make one particular metric inaccurate. When we talk about driving time, we would need to factor in traffic condition and parking. Uber time, we also need to factor in waiting time and availability.

A better metric for city distance is time to cross by jogging. Four days in a week, I go from our apartment in the center of the city to the municipal pool to pick up William after his swimming practice. If I took the bus, it may take between 20 to 60 minutes. If I use the Uber, it may take 15 minutes to travel, in addition to an unpredictable waiting time. If I run, the shortest I got was ten and half minutes, and the longest was eleven and half minutes.