01-31-2015, 05:51 PM
(01-31-2015, 03:00 PM)ookpik Wrote: Don't forget the most important (IMO):
- Scarcity and high cost of car parking in most European cities, including those much smaller than K-W. Even if you have the money to pay for parking spaces may not be conveniently located.
The point is that parking doesn't even enter into the equation. A car simply becomes a hindrance when in town. You have to loop back to where you left it, you cannot just tag along with the group, you can't drink the plentiful good and cheap wine and beer available in LCBO-free countries.
Let's take as an example Frankfurt. Say I have an eight hour lay off there. If wanted to walk the famous Bockenheimer/Ziel shopping district which goes for two kilometers from the Alte Oper to the market at Konstablerwatche I can take the subway from the airport, transfer at the train station and then to Alte Oper, and walk from one end and leave at the other from Konstablerwatche. With a car, first I would have to drive into town, then park and once done with shopping double back for two kilometers to retrieve it. Talk about inconvenient! Public transit is the comfortable choice by far.
Now compare that experience to taking a bus in KW ca. 1995: bus goes by every 40 minutes off peak, connections take equally long, no Sunday service, no late night service. You can charge me for parking all you want (locals call it "downtown Toronto") and I would still still drive in such a place.