Why do a lot of European and East Asian countries have such high car ownership? (transporting, limousine)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Countries like Italy, Germany, the UK, Japan.etc are all known for having compact cities, good public transport and walkable cities, yet their rate of car ownership is almost the same as that of countries like the US or Australia with the sprawling cities...why is that? Is owning a car still a status thing, or do people just enjoy using it to go for drives out to the country? Is public transport still not that good in some of these places or is it just plain laziness? I think in Europe, at least, cars aren't so big as in the US and aren't as used as much, so the impact is quite a bit less than ownership rates would suggest.
'Almost the same' is a bit of a stretch. USA 797, Australia 695, Italy 679, Japan 591, Germany 572, UK 519. Italy and Australia are the only 2 that are close. Japan, Germany and UK are over 25% less than the USA, not an insignificant amount.
'Almost the same' is a bit of a stretch. USA 797, Australia 695, Italy 679, Japan 591, Germany 572, UK 519. Italy and Australia are the only 2 that are close. Japan, Germany and UK are over 25% less than the USA, not an insignificant amount.
Well Oz seems so car dominated, and Italy and Germany are not far behind. That's still a very high rate of ownership, stop quibbling over numbers.
Well outside of London I wouldn't say the UK has good public transport most of the cities that have trams service only the city and inner areas known as the trams to nowhere. The way I see it though no matter how good public transport is it will never be a replacement to the car, having your own car gives you more freedom to go where you want when you want. To be stuck in a traffic jam in your own car is a better alternative than to be crammed onto a bus/tram/subway during rush hour full of smelly sweaty people all in a bad mood.
Well outside of London I wouldn't say the UK has good public transport most of the cities that have trams service only the city and inner areas known as the trams to nowhere. The way I see it though no matter how good public transport is it will never be a replacement to the car, having your own car gives you more freedom to go where you want when you want. To be stuck in a traffic jam in your own car is a better alternative than to be crammed onto a bus/tram/subway during rush hour full of smelly sweaty people all in a bad mood.
I'll take being crammed in a train and still getting to my destination in 20 minutes rather than endure 1 hour or more in a traffic jam to travel the same distance. In Sydney it's often up to 2 hours.
Well outside of London I wouldn't say the UK has good public transport most of the cities that have trams service only the city and inner areas known as the trams to nowhere. The way I see it though no matter how good public transport is it will never be a replacement to the car, having your own car gives you more freedom to go where you want when you want. To be stuck in a traffic jam in your own car is a better alternative than to be crammed onto a bus/tram/subway during rush hour full of smelly sweaty people all in a bad mood.
^
This is also applicable to Germany and Italy. Outside of the cities, public transport tends to be rather "rare" and "unpopular". I mean no resident needs a car in a dense and vibrant inner-city district when there are two metro stations and six bus stops nearby. The bicycle also has a high status in that type of areas. However, people in villages, rural counties and small-towns just need a car to get from A to B because there is no real bus or regional train service.
In the case of Germany, it is also one of the "Automobile" nations where a good car isn't just a transport vehicle but also part of the "freedom", the standard or the quality of life. Hermann from Bavaria or Heinz from Lower Saxony just tend to love their Volkswagen, BMW or Mercedes Benz.
This is also applicable to Germany and Italy. Outside of the cities, public transport tends to be rather "rare" and "unpopular". I mean no resident needs a car in a dense and vibrant inner-city district when there are two metro stations and six bus stops nearby. The bicycle also has a high status in that type of areas. However, people in villages, rural counties and small-towns just need a car to get from A to B because there is no real bus or regional train service.
True. I would even push it a bit further and say that even within big cities a car can be much more convenient than public transport. Especially if you need to transfer between different means of transportation or between two subway lines. In that case commuting by PT can be very time-consuming.
I used to live in Frankfurt, which is known for its excellent public transportation network. It took me 45 mins door-to-door (sans delays, of course) to get to work by public transport. By car it was only 20 minutes.
Having a car is a big plus even in Europe. If I have a car, I can go wherever I want, whenever I want. No need to look up schedules, to sit in cramped trains or busses for hours... A trip to the grocery store is also much nicer if you have a car.
In many places in Europe public transport is not as good as Americans seem to think. Here in Portugal for instance many people simply need a car as the railroad network is not dense at all. Most people have compact cars, though, not huge SUVs or limousines.
All over Europe railroad companies are trying to **** customers off and make them switch to cars so that they can close lines as transporting goods is more lucrative (no stations to staff and maintain, etc.).
The only exceptions are high-speed lines, but many people don't live along those.
I'll take being crammed in a train and still getting to my destination in 20 minutes rather than endure 1 hour or more in a traffic jam to travel the same distance. In Sydney it's often up to 2 hours.
I cant comment for Sydney as I have never lived there, but from the places I have lived in the car is seems to be the quicker way of travel as driving yourself is more direct, even here in Singapore where they claim to have amazing public transport although I call BS on that it takes me 25 minutes to get to work in a morning via car but if I take the MRT and bus it will take 1 hour 20 minutes after stopping at each station and waiting for the slow a$$ people to board and alight.
Last edited by pettyhate; 08-21-2013 at 09:35 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
