I totally agree with you Jonny_rust, but i can just see this implementation not working for the whole community.
I think it would make shops and bars more busy, but not more alive, people would walk in, do there bit, bail back to what they where doing with there facton "Sorry guys lame food bar cool down, can we meet at etc- ill be 10 mins"
its a mechanic that would get in the way. I really like the idea of trying to populate towns, playing the entire game in town preview and world map is lame.
Also i was speaking from experience as a thief, when banks where used they where the funnest place to troll (never really for profit) because you knew there would be marks there coming in and out. Also same with a guy in CA, every troll in town will target you (including myself) just because its the biggest grief payoff. Maybe i make it sound more harsh then it is, but i would never suggest to anyone to bring valuables to NCR for example. Also, with OD speeds so slow, new players without cars may not be able to get to there one tent etc.
And what if you live near a unguarded town, each time you eat you gotta do potential suicide runs just go get some mash and peas? Or walk insane amounts with whatever penalty for being hungry (special decrees? ap? all these seem very harsh).
tl;dr Many other mechanics would have to change to allow this idea to co-exist, there must be another way to populate citys and add environment and setting other then punishing the player into submission.