Commuters can add more walking to their daily trips without spending extra time traveling, according to research from Bar-Ilan University that could reshape how people think about their journeys to work.
The proof-of-concept study analyzed commuting routes for more than 2,100 employees traveling to the university, and found they could add an average of nine minutes of walking without lengthening total commute time.
“This means you can leave home at the same time, get to work at the same time, and walk more along the way,” said Professor Jonathan Rabinowitz from Bar-Ilan’s Weisfeld School of Social Work, who leads the More Walking Project. “It’s a simple shift with significant benefits.”
The research, published in BMC Public Health, suggests that modifying trip-planning preferences in navigation apps could help people incorporate more physical activity into their daily routines. The study explored replacing the default “less walking” setting in mapping applications with a “more walking” option.
Researchers found that increasing walking distance thresholds in trip planning did not necessarily extend travel times and sometimes reduced them.
The health stakes are significant. Previous studies have shown that a brisk 20-minute daily walk can reduce the risk of early death by up to 25%, making commute-based walking a practical option for people who struggle to fit exercise into busy schedules.
Rabinowitz said the research grew from helping his son recover from a military injury. “We saw how impactful small, consistent steps could be,” he said. “This led us to ask: What if our daily maps nudged us to walk just a bit more?”
The study was conducted with the Israeli Smart Transportation Research Center at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and involved the late Bar-Ilan researcher Yuval Hadas and graduate student Dan Katz.
The ongoing research now provides commuters with guidance on increasing walking using existing transportation apps and tracks behavioral changes.
The project has backing from the Smart Mobility Initiative in the Prime Minister’s Office and the Council for Higher Education.
The More Walking Project is a population-based wellness initiative focused on promoting walking by modifying trip planning to incorporate more active transportation.
