On Wed, 20 Sep 2006 09:31:49 +0200, Thomas Borchert
wrote in
:

Larry,

The roads are congested with traffic, but consider, where would
metropolitan Parisians garage their automobiles?


Have you been there?

A few times. Have you been there?

The city is full of a) cars parked by the roadside

It is very difficult to find on-street parking in metropolitan Paris;
many park on the sidewalks. While the streets are full of
automobiles, many are taxis, buses, and delivery trucks, not family
automobiles.

Also, consider the number of riders on public transport (Metro,
busses), they far outnumber those riding in automobiles.

Suffice it to say, automobile ownership in Paris (and France, and
indeed Europe) is no where near mandatory as it is in the US.

and b) parking garages.

Other than the parking structure at CDG, I don't recall seeing many
parking garages at all.