Have you been driving in the city most of your life? You are in for a big shock once you drive into the city; the traffic is ten times worse, the roads are extremely narrow with tons of potholes. Parking is a huge pain not to mention expensive.
If you’ve been driving in a suburb, chances are you’re spoiled by the good big lanes and smooth roads. California suburban streets sometimes have 5 or 6 lanes. You will be surprised because cities like Los Angeles have many highways with only 2 lanes! Yes, the city has more people and the streets have fewer lanes! You can imagine the traffic and congestion; it can take half an hour just to travel a mile.
The key to parking in the city is to look for “street parking”, these are the spaces without parking meters. However, watch for signs, don’t park there if the signs prohibit it, and don’t park on red curbs or if it says “truck loading only.” Enforcement is strict and some places will not hesitate to tow your car! If you need to park in a garage or public parking structure, expect to pay at least ten dollars. The meters are a pain because they usually only work for two hours at a time and you have to go back to put coins in the meter.
Be prepared to parallel park in the city; Parking spaces are extremely scarce and if you’re lucky enough to find a spot you’ll likely have to parallel park, so you’d better brush up on your parking skills before you hit the big city.
It is almost impossible to make a U-turn in the city. Either you have to do one illegally (which I don’t recommend) or you have to go around the block, which takes forever due to traffic. In the suburbs it’s so easy; you can make a u-turn pretty much anywhere and there are even signs indicating when you can do one.
In the city you have those left turns where you have to go three quarters of the way up and yield to traffic and you can drive when it’s clear or when the light turns red. There’s not much of that in the suburbs; it simply turns when the “arrow” turns green. It’s much more hectic and stressful in the city when you have to compromise.
Yes, driving in the city can be difficult and complicated. Fortunately, most cities also offer excellent public transportation so you can have a day off when you don’t feel like dealing with parking and traffic.