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Large European cities seem to have decent public transport, especially London and Paris. Why then, does such a small proportion of commuters use it? (I saw somewhere that around 7% of Paris commuters take public transit, don't know what the exact rates are for other cities. But I'm guessing it's similar.)
Auto traffic is a big issue in city centres. London has a congestion fee, Paris tried to restrict auto use during the smog problem a few months ago, Rome has similar problems... why the resistance to using public transportation when it's so readily available?
Large European cities seem to have decent public transport, especially London and Paris. Why then, does such a small proportion of commuters use it? (I saw somewhere that around 7% of Paris commuters take public transit, don't know what the exact rates are for other cities. But I'm guessing it's similar.)
Auto traffic is a big issue in city centres. London has a congestion fee, Paris tried to restrict auto use during the smog problem a few months ago, Rome has similar problems... why the resistance to using public transportation when it's so readily available?
I don't know where you got these numbers, but a quick google search shows Paris has the 7th or 8th busiest/most used metro system in the world, with more than 4.5 million daily riders, so your numbers seem really low. Paris would need to have about 65 million commuters for those 4.5 million daily riders to only equal 7% (65 million is the population of the entire country, and while Paris is big, it is not that big :-) )
I used to live in Lyon, France and the metro was always crowded during rush hour and pretty crowded outside rush hour times. I would say only about 50% of my friends had cars and only about 50% of those with cars used them for their daily commute.
Large European cities seem to have decent public transport, especially London and Paris.
Decent? I would say outstanding.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ottawa2011
Why then, does such a small proportion of commuters use it? (I saw somewhere that around 7% of Paris commuters take public transit, don't know what the exact rates are for other cities. But I'm guessing it's similar.)
Because it is not a small proportion, it is a large proportion; have you ever lived and worked over there?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ottawa2011
Auto traffic is a big issue in city centres. London has a congestion fee, Paris tried to restrict auto use during the smog problem a few months ago, Rome has similar problems... why the resistance to using public transportation when it's so readily available?
There is no resistance at all, it is that for many people, public transportation is not convenient for them, so they drive to where they need to go. Also, public trans can be rather expensive, so this is factored into daily commuting costs and make it more beneficial to not take public trans. When I lived and worked in London, I had free parking downtown while I would have to pay out of pocket for the Tube (I did not have to go downtown all of the time, only a couple of days out of the week), it was much cheaper for me to drive to work and quicker (though I prefer to take mass transit).
I was just in a city of ~300,000 in Germany, Bochum, and even it has a UBahn. There is no stigma or shame in using a bus or a train seemingly everywhere throughout Europe, and most people take advantage of it. The systems in larger cities are extremely extensive beyond belief, so I'm not sure how you got those numbers.
Large European cities seem to have decent public transport, especially London and Paris. Why then, does such a small proportion of commuters use it? (I saw somewhere that around 7% of Paris commuters take public transit, don't know what the exact rates are for other cities. But I'm guessing it's similar.)
Outside of ÃŽle de France, only 7.5% of workers commute by public transit. 80% drive to work. ÃŽle de France (Paris region) has completely different numbers.
Within the Paris metropolitan region, according to that link, 43.9% of work commuting is done by public transport, 7.8% by foot, 4.6% by two-wheeled transport and 43.7% by car.
In our capital region, 43% of commuting is made by public transport, despite being 10 times smaller than London or Paris. According a survey 77% of the people who answered were content or happy with the public transport and 60% wanted to curtail growth of commuting by car. Also, using public transport instead of cars in the Helsinki region is on the rise among both genders and in all age groups except for over 65 year-olds. (Which I can understand.)
I was just in a city of ~300,000 in Germany, Bochum, and even it has a UBahn. There is no stigma or shame in using a bus or a train seemingly everywhere throughout Europe, and most people take advantage of it. The systems in larger cities are extremely extensive beyond belief, so I'm not sure how you got those numbers.
I loath buses as the ride is choppy, except bendy buses. Underground metros and trams are superb. Many cities in Germany and even in Manchester in England have tram-trains that run on streets and normal rail tracks. You can get off a commuter train and change platforms onto a tram-train and run off into the streets. Trams are a nice in-fill, the metros are the answer.
Metro networks, having them underground in the centres, are essential in all cities. Large roads and cars must be discouraged. Many highways in urban areas can be made into linear parks, canals, etc. Quality of life and vibrancy must be encouraged. Vibrancy comes with density. Density means cars have to be excluded.
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