Americans baffled by lack of parking lots at Taylor Swift's Aussie shows
Americans baffled by lack of parking lots at Taylor Swift's Aussie shows
One of my favorites, just remembered it, and this article is from the AU's perspective.
I like that they have to explain it to Aussies because they don't understand why there would be a need for massive parking lots.
Not all US cities have reliable or widespread public transport networks, so it's likely that a similar number of Americans drive to and from concerts. As such, most stadiums in the US are surrounded by vast parking lots to accommodate all the vehicles - but not in Australia.
Here's another article that counters this just a little: https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/02/28/taylor-swift-mcg-parking-urban-planning/
tl;dr Australia is still a quite a car-centric place relative to most of Europe and only marginally better than Canada and the US
EDIT: Looks like Victoria is planning to remove parking minimums from housing near public transport which is a good start.
Aussie here, We're still very much a car centric country, but for major public events we are pretty much hardwired to use public transport. I dont know what the actual parking capacity of the MCG is, but Marvel Stadium (Docklands) is only 500 cars with 55000 seats(not including the many nearby free and paid parking locations), that is much smaller than the MCG at over 100000 capacity, one of the worlds highest capacity stadiums despite our puny population.
Apart from most stadiums having extensive train, bus and drop-off access, we also have Park and Ride programs that can temporarily scale up to cover events like this which can basically turn any unused land into a large temporary carpark with dedicated bus services that take you either to the venue directly or to the local train station when they both have limited parking.
I can't imagine taking a car to an event like this, imagine taking 1 hour just to get out of the parking lot, needing to have a designated driver etc.
Brit here. I think we're the same? I've never gone to a concert by car. It's usually in a major city and it's just easier by train. Not cheaper, though.
I've had friends tell me they've been stuck in car parks for hours while leaving concerts, so people obviously do it. It's just not a great idea.
I guess it'd be different if we had massive car parks instead of train stations, which is becoming more the case with shopping.
And then there's the sad story of Melbourne's Waverley Park, a large stadium which they built in an area with no decent public transport. What happens when you build Melbourne's largest stadium with >100,000 capacity, and also a large but inadequate 25,000 car spots and no usable public transport?
It was never filled since they simply couldn't get enough people to it. Also even then it apparently took hours just to get out of the parking lot after a game. It ended up failing as a stadium and being converted into housing years later.
As an American, videos like this make me so jealous of countries that have cycling and public transportation infrastructure. I wish we could cure our carbrain epidemic.
(I don't know YouTubers, and I just happened to watch that video. Knowing my luck, that YouTuber is a Nazi serial killer or something, but please don't judge me.)
oh my god this is so accurate. I have parents here who pick their kid up from the school bus stop that's one block away.
One. Block. In the suburbs.
It's so freaking insane to me. The worst part? He's 14! A 14 year old can walk a single freaking block home folks. I was 10 and I was riding my bike home. But parents are so terrified of everything and everyone that that's the "only solution" they can think of.
And note I said pick up, they get in their freaking car and drive to go pick him up one block away.
Americans are so. fucking. stupid.
It's not just parents either. That video mentions a school where a father got in trouble for trying to pick up his child on foot instead of by car, and parents being charged for letting their kids play outside.
Our whole society is sick.
A big part of my childhood was walking or bicycling places with my friends. And now we have cell phones, so it should be even safer than it was back then!
I recently visited Taiwan and the difference in transit and how neighborhoods are set up is stunning. Everywhere is walkable, small stores and restaurants everywhere, few roads bigger than 2 lanes even dead in the middle of Taipei. It was so vibrant and lively and safe feeling. People also had very crowd friendly habits such as the right side of an escalator is for standing and the left side is kept clear for people in a rush. Coming back to the US I really felt how hostile everything here is and how people in crowds just do not give a fuck about anyone but themselves
This isn’t something I really thought about but it’s so true. For the most part, we only use public transport to get to gigs in Ireland. You’ll have a couple that are further out (think small holdings/farms) but generally you’re close enough to a bus or train.