For commuters seeking more movement in a busy schedule, the Moovit app has added a route choice that increases walking without extending total travel duration.

The service now goes beyond basic directions from one point to another by helping users fit extra walking into existing trips. This update draws from studies indicating that transit riders can add meaningful activity through small adjustments like exiting one stop sooner or choosing routes with more walking segments.

Research led by Prof. Jonathan Rabinowitz at Bar-Ilan University shows that thousands of public transport users can gain daily exercise by altering simple habits such as leaving the bus early or walking between transfers instead of waiting. In the app, riders select the Steps option to favor paths with higher walking amounts.

Rabinowitz developed the concept after observing how a relative recovering from injury shortened commutes by exiting earlier or walking between connections rather than taking additional buses.

Modern Life Turns Increasingly Sedentary

Daily routines have grown more inactive, with many hours spent seated at desks, in vehicles, or aboard transit. Extended workdays further reduce opportunities for exercise, raising risks of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, some cancers, and early mortality. Inactivity also links to weaker mental health and lower well-being overall.

Walking offers a straightforward, low-cost way to counter these effects by supporting heart health, building muscle and bone strength, aiding weight control, easing stress, and cutting chronic disease chances. Rabinowitz noted that it lowers early death risk and urged people to simply walk more without fixating on exact step totals.

Dr. Eyal Ginesin, an orthopedic surgeon at Clalit Health Services, reports frequent patient visits for lower back and leg pain tied to prolonged sitting that shortens key muscles like hip flexors and hamstrings. Inactive muscles receive less nourishment, he added, though most issues from sedentary habits can reverse with movement.

Simple Adjustments for Better Health

Rabinowitz focuses on practical daily tweaks through accessible biohacking methods that require no special tools. Adding roughly one and a half kilometers of walking often improved efficiency by reducing transfers and opening faster options like heading straight to a train. The World Health Organization advises 150 to 300 minutes of moderate aerobic activity weekly while cutting sitting time, making commute-based walking a realistic solution for many.