I know there is fast travel, but what about like a personal horse or something, that makes you faster on world map? Of course if it is an animal you'd have to feed him in order to keep it, so it's still "balanced".
emm, there is something like that, there are men for transportation that will take you to your desired city at the cost of money. (edit: in hard mode they will be always available to travel anywhere, but in hell/doom they will have a chance to be available at certain areas, not all of them)
but you can also walk faster in the map some hows, hold shift to spend double energy but save ingame time, that way "I THINK" you will encounter less events on the way.
but hey! you can take a horse! it costs money every half a day, but its not for riding, altho it can carry inf stuff for you.