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> Some people really do need a car to get to work, but if they also want to live in the center of a large city, Why does someone living in NYC, Chicago, London

> Some people really do need a car to get to work, but if they also want to live in the center of a large city, Why does someone living in NYC, Chicago, London, Paris need a car to get to work? There are some very rare cases yes, but the vast vast majority don't need a car, they want a car. > The city of Copenhagen famously sold more parking permits than there are actual parking spaces to people living in the city center. I would almost always expect that to happen. There is far more demand than there is parking, and a permit doesn't give you a right to a space. I would also be hugely surprised if much money (if any) was made from permits. (Enforcement of the CPZs being a different thing that almost certainly does make money). > I don't get why people can just pay the parking fee, it's often not nearly as expensive as people make it out to be. It's £4.50 per hour in the city center here, (plus £0.20 to pay by card - and this is a recent option too. 2-3 years ago it was coins only), and most areas have a 2 hour limit. For anyone actually living in the city, it's almost certainly cheaper to get an Uber each way.

prasadjoglekar 5y ago
This may not translate to London etc., but remember that NYC is a lot larger than Manhattan. There are large parts of NYC that are not serviced by trains/subways, and the only option is a bus. My wife would take a train to a train to a bus to get from one part of Queens to another. 90 minutes on a good day. Driving - 25 mins including finding parking.
- avianlyric 5y ago
  Ignore the next sections, I can’t read and the comment is just wrong. This is a thread about parking in European cities. Experiences of NYC aren’t exactly useful data points. Also as a related point. It’s a real shame that the US doesn’t invest in proper bus lanes and busses. Buses don’t need to a shitty form of transport, it’s really on in the US where busses are worse than driving in city centres.
  - prasadjoglekar 5y ago
    Parent comment asked: Why does someone living in NYC, Chicago, London, Paris need a car to get to work? There are some very rare cases yes, but the vast vast majority don't need a car, they want a car. I'm positing that the assertion that the vast majority don't "need a car" is incorrect, certainly in NYC.
    - avianlyric 5y ago
      My apologies, clearly I need to read more carefully.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
mrweasel 5y ago
> Why does someone living in NYC, Chicago, London, Paris need a car to get to work? There are more cities than that, and many have terrible public transport, even in Europe. I live just outside a city with around 125.000 people. Public transport is terrible, it takes an hour or more to use the bus for traveling 15km (I need to leave home at 6:30 to be at work at 9:15, if I take the bus, but it's a 20 minute drive). Also most of the jobs aren't actually within the city center. Many can bike and do so, but that's not an option for everyone, especially during the winter and autumn.
- maccard 5y ago
  > There are more cities than that Sure, but the person I replied to said _large_ city. 125k is definitely not a large city, and having grown up in a similar sized one (~100k) they're poorly served. This is (anecdotally) because those towns and cities used to be small enough to not warrant mass transit, and now that they are people are convinced that it's not worth it because it's slow.
  - mrweasel 5y ago
    125k is rather large where I live, large enough to make it one of the countries four major cities. But fair enough, if you talk about large cities as Berlin, London and other cities with millions of people, the argumentation changes.
long_time_gone 5y ago
There are reasons for needing a car other than “work”. Getting your kid to doctor’s office, taking your kid to school, taking your kid to daycare, visiting family, fitting all your bikes/kayaks/gear to go outdoors, groceries and errands, etc. Note, I live in Chicago with 2 kids under 5. Neither my wife or I drive to work and we have one car.

prasadjoglekar 5y ago

This may not translate to London etc., but remember that NYC is a lot larger than Manhattan. There are large parts of NYC that are not serviced by trains/subways, and the only option is a bus. My wife would take a train to a train to a bus to get from one part of Queens to another. 90 minutes on a good day. Driving - 25 mins including finding parking.

avianlyric 5y ago
Ignore the next sections, I can’t read and the comment is just wrong. This is a thread about parking in European cities. Experiences of NYC aren’t exactly useful data points. Also as a related point. It’s a real shame that the US doesn’t invest in proper bus lanes and busses. Buses don’t need to a shitty form of transport, it’s really on in the US where busses are worse than driving in city centres.
- prasadjoglekar 5y ago
  Parent comment asked: Why does someone living in NYC, Chicago, London, Paris need a car to get to work? There are some very rare cases yes, but the vast vast majority don't need a car, they want a car. I'm positing that the assertion that the vast majority don't "need a car" is incorrect, certainly in NYC.
  - avianlyric 5y ago
    My apologies, clearly I need to read more carefully.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]

mrweasel 5y ago

> Why does someone living in NYC, Chicago, London, Paris need a car to get to work? There are more cities than that, and many have terrible public transport, even in Europe. I live just outside a city with around 125.000 people. Public transport is terrible, it takes an hour or more to use the bus for traveling 15km (I need to leave home at 6:30 to be at work at 9:15, if I take the bus, but it's a 20 minute drive). Also most of the jobs aren't actually within the city center. Many can bike and do so, but that's not an option for everyone, especially during the winter and autumn.

maccard 5y ago
> There are more cities than that Sure, but the person I replied to said _large_ city. 125k is definitely not a large city, and having grown up in a similar sized one (~100k) they're poorly served. This is (anecdotally) because those towns and cities used to be small enough to not warrant mass transit, and now that they are people are convinced that it's not worth it because it's slow.
- mrweasel 5y ago
  125k is rather large where I live, large enough to make it one of the countries four major cities. But fair enough, if you talk about large cities as Berlin, London and other cities with millions of people, the argumentation changes.

long_time_gone 5y ago

There are reasons for needing a car other than “work”. Getting your kid to doctor’s office, taking your kid to school, taking your kid to daycare, visiting family, fitting all your bikes/kayaks/gear to go outdoors, groceries and errands, etc. Note, I live in Chicago with 2 kids under 5. Neither my wife or I drive to work and we have one car.