Crowded streets and insufficient parking are a problem even here in little (30000) Juneau, Alaska. Because we are between the ocean and the mountains (in very few places is there even a mile between the two), our streets are narrow. Because we are the capital of Alaska, there's an annual influx of legislators during the winter adding to the congestion and because we are in a gorgeously scenic area, in the summertime we have boatloads of visitors with others arriving by air or bringing their vehicles on the ferries, so parking is frustrating, to say the least. When I had a car, I got to the point of not even wanting to use it because I knew it meant that I had lost my parking spot.

The city is trying to motivate the people, especially office workers, into using public transport. One of the things being bandied about at the moment is issuing a free bus pass to each office worker then for those who insist on bringing their cars downtown there would be a charge for parking in parking garages. (Currently parking garages are free to the worker; each agency pays the monthly fee.) The resulting leftover parking spaces would be open for shoppers and visitors.

That would be a good start. Juneau is a linear town, extending up the coast about 45 miles. I would like to see a Park and Ride spot about 5 miles out of downtown (Downtown is where the Capitol is and where almost all the offices are) whence shuttles would make 15 or 20 minute loops, delivering people to the office door and back again. That way, on the days you needed to run errands after work, you could take the shuttle back to your car and not have to go all the way home before setting off again.

Speaking of not being able to afford to live in your own town, a few years back Aspen, Colorado, set up a dormitory system in town for the workers who serve the populace who come to play or to visit their second homes. That appalls me- it seems such a third-world concept.