Driving in big cities

[Erki]

I'm curious, how do those living in major cities like London or Sydney or NYC, or even just in towns with larger area than say 100km² manage to drive there. Don't you get lost often? Or do you just stick to your area and not venture out?

And I mean with cars with no sat-nav.

[MrJan]

I think most large cities have decent transport structures so people tend to use those. Certainly whenever I've visited central London or while I was in downtown Toronto the undergound and other transport was fantastic and you just don't need a car.

I would say that most people probably don't get lost, I've driven around London and while you need an A-Z and ocassionally take a wrong turn you generally get it right in the end and it must be much easier when you at least have a slight idea where you are.

Personally though I just couldn't live in a large City as I'd miss driving too much. I love being able to venture out into the B roads near me with so loud music on and just forget about everything.

[J4MIE]

Top Gear proved cycling was the way to do it :up:

[SubaruNorway]

Or if you don't want to get yourself killed the subway rocks too ;)

[maxu05]

I drove as a courier for a while in Sydney and also in Melbourne. It is not as hard to find your way as you think. Like Jan said, you have an A to Z. Once I have driven to a place once, I can remember how to get there again the next time. It is also important to remember little details and places of interest or standout landmarks and buildings, so you have a reference for next time. I rather like country driving more though.

[tmx]

i have to invesr in a gps soon to get around.

[Azumanga Davo]

I drove as a courier for a while in Sydney and also in Melbourne. It is not as hard to find your way as you think. Like Jan said, you have an A to Z. Once I have driven to a place once, I can remember how to get there again the next time. It is also important to remember little details and places of interest or standout landmarks and buildings, so you have a reference for next time. I rather like country driving more though.

Yep, you would be surprised how easy it is to pick up obscure places without you realising it. Although finding it the first time proves to be fun... :p :

[A.F.F.]

Top Gear proved cycling was the way to do it :up:

No, parkour was :up:

[Erki]

Parkour. :up: :)

[Daniel]

I'm curious, how do those living in major cities like London or Sydney or NYC, or even just in towns with larger area than say 100km² manage to drive there. Don't you get lost often? Or do you just stick to your area and not venture out?

And I mean with cars with no sat-nav.

When I was going to somewhere strange in Perth I would work out which main roads to go on and which street to turn off on and then get out my street directory and look at the rest of the route then.

[fandango]

Much of Barcelona is a grid system, so it's easy. But if I'm in the parts that aren't I often get lost. There's always someone to ask, though, and it's easy to navigate generally because the city is between the sea and some hills.

[Azumanga Davo]

Parkour. :up: :)

Yep, he did drive that pink Rolls Royce pretty quick, didn't he? ;)

[Vivianita]

I drive in Bogotá which is very big city and I don't get lost... I just guide myself using the adresses, it's not really that hard :p

[Vivianita]

Double post :p

[Rollo]

Sydney is not a grid but the whole city is radial.
If you have an idea of what the map of the railway network looks like, and then where the motorways go, you can pretty well much find most suburbs... but as for actual streets, you'd need a street directory.

I used to drive from home to work, a distance of 46km. Or if you will a round trip of 92km every day. Even over a distance that long, you even get an idea of which lane you need to be in to make best use of traffic flows; and where the backstreets and duck alleys go.

[Drew]

I have no idea where anywhere is or any of the road names, it's always the pink house of the house that has the ferrari...

[Vivianita]

Here in Bogotá it's quite easy to drive and not get lost because all streets are numbered and the numbers go up from South to North so, it's pretty obvious that if you're in the 19th street and you want to go to the 90th, you just have to go 71 blocks to the north... But, in those cities that have streets with names, how the hell do you know where's every street? I've always wondered that.

[Valve Bounce]

I got around in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne without any trouble. The secret is to get a tourist map of the city which shows where the different suburbs are and how they are interconnected. If you can get it all on one or two pages, it helps to get yourself orientated.

When I left Australia to work overseas, I found my way around in KL, Bankok, Seoul, Tehran, in this way. I also visited London but that was a bit more confusing. I did hire a camper van and visited Paris, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Holland and only got lost once - that was when I took a wrong turn in Norway and went in the wrong direction for 15 minutes.

I had good maps and a compass on the windscreen. If you like reading maps, then it's not a problem, even when there are one way systems like in London. My mother used to navigate my brother around London by getting her directions from the tube stations. :p :

[ShiftingGears]

Here in Bogotá it's quite easy to drive and not get lost because all streets are numbered and the numbers go up from South to North so, it's pretty obvious that if you're in the 19th street and you want to go to the 90th, you just have to go 71 blocks to the north... But, in those cities that have streets with names, how the hell do you know where's every street? I've always wondered that.

Street directory, landmarks, suburbs etc etc. I think its a lot more interesting than having a street grid with numbers.

[Iain]

Had to navigate my way in and out of Glasgow a little while ago there. What a joke of a road system. :down: It's a grid pattern mostly in the centre, so you'd think it's easy to go around. But no, there are No Right Turn, No Left Turn, One Way streets and other obstacles in the way. :down: Don't mind driving the motorway through the centre, but if I have to get off it and go through the normal streets, it's a nightmare with parked cars everywhere on the two lane roads.

[GridGirl]

I don't mind driving in city although I prefer to drive at non-peak hours if its a city I've never been to before.

Hated driving in Edinburgh in 2006 though as my sat nav constantly kept trying to send me the wrong way down one way streets or through no entry signs. For last years Edinburgh tatoo we just got the train instead. Much much easier.

[Vivianita]

Street directory, landmarks, suburbs etc etc. I think its a lot more interesting than having a street grid with numbers.

It can be more interesting but less practical

[leopard]

I try to read at least once the main road crossing over the city from north to south, and east to west. Layman make it the hint once you go left from main road, you need go right to get back at the same main road.

For some reason city whose the site plan or lay-out is not too good, there are too much traffic light. It may decrease the excitement of driving. ;)

[Erki]

It can be more interesting but less practical

How do I know you're an engineering student? ;)


For some reason city whose the site plan or lay-out is not too good, there are too much traffic light. It may decrease the excitement of driving. ;)

But red traffic lights are ideal places to stop to check your map. :)

[leopard]

But red traffic lights are ideal places to stop to check your map. :)
When the red light off, drivers behind me put their horn loudly on me, and policemen warn me to take my drive license away, without trying to know I am reading a map. :)

Then James walked towards me. "Are you ok?" he asked. "Yes," I replied just a little shaken. He asked me to get into the back of his car and relax for a minute while we japanese teen sex (http://www.love-sex-videos.com/japanese-sex/japanese-teen-sex_424.html) exchanged insurance numbers. I was happy to my knees were still shaky and I needed to sit down. "Do you know who I am?" James asked inquisitively. I thought he looked familiar, but I wasn't sure from where.

[gadjo_dilo]

The PR version:

The metropolitan area of Bucharest has a population of 2.6 million people who own about 1.5 mil.cars. The city's municipal road network is centred around a series of high-capacity boulevards, which generally radiate out from the city centre to the outskirts. The main axes, which run north-south, east-west and northwest-southeast, as well as one internal and one external ring road, support the bulk of the traffic. The city's roads are usually very crowded during rush hours, due to an increase in car ownership in recent years. Every day, there are more than one million vehicles travelling within the city. This has resulted in wear and potholes appearing on many Bucharest roads, particularly secondary roads, this being identified as one of Bucharest's main infrastructural problems. In recent years, there has been a comprehensive effort on behalf of the City Hall to boost road infrastructure and according to the general development plan, nearly 2000 roads are expected to be repaired by 2008.

The real thing:

Bucharest is a chaotic city developed without any urbanistic plan. The streets aren't usually straight and are too narrow for the traffic. Parkings are almost non-existing and everybody leave car "where his muscle wants" making the traffic harder and harder. The main boulevards are always "in work " so the traffic is taken over by collateral streets. The traffic lights aren't coordinated and you have to wait at the red light in almost every crossroad.
In an attempt to do a fluidity in traffic, the mayors introduced a lot of "one way " signs that confuse the drivers who may know where a certain street is but are in an imposibility to get there because of the signs.
I'm not a driver and I live in the centre, the part with the most rambling streets. I know the area by heart but everytime I'm in a car and I'm trying to explain the driver how to get to a point we are knocked back by the "one way" sign.
There are also many things to be said about the drivers who don't obey the traffic rules, the holes in the asphalt, the many streets who changed their names under the new regime.
All these make this city the nightmare of any decent driver and make you think of the public transport. Which is another sad story.....

[JSH]

Living in Detroit... You learn pretty quick not to get lost....

[Vivianita]

How do I know you're an engineering student? ;)

Me? Engineering? I have no idea what are you talking about....

































:p