Free parking in Manhattan--does it really exist?

1. Driving takes time...and you have to leave a lot of extra time in the event that traffic is really bad, which it often is.

2. Parking takes time. If you want to find a "free" spot, you have to spend time finding a space, making sure it's a "free" space and not a tow-away zone.

3. You have to allow time to walk to wherever you are going from wherever you wind up parking.

4. If your car DOES get towed, it's A LOT more expensive than taking the LIRR into town. (And add "time" to this hassle, too.)

5. If you cannot find a spot, you will wind up having to park in a lot which can be very costly.

6. Depending on the price of gas and how far you are traveling, driving a car can be expensive these days. (Of course, this is mitigated when you have several people in pne vehicle sharing the expense.)

All that being said, I know people who do drive into the city pretty regularly and who have "studied" street parking well enough to know where to look and so forth. Even they, however, have to resort to a lot sometimes. But they know the "cheapest" ones and are able to gauge when they need to "give up" looking for a street spot and get into a lot in order to be where they're going on-time.

Me? I never drive in NYC anymore. Time is too valuable to me...and it's SO easy to get around Manhattan by public transportation. It's just not worth it.

Of course, the entire trip is less expensive when you don't lose your iPhone in the theatre!!!!

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Oh, I forgot to mention the time my car was parked in the Village while I was in class at NYU for 90 minutes and my car got broken into. That was another expense I could have avoided by taking public transportation. And my stupidity still gnaws at me to this day because one of the things stolen was a vintage sweater I used to wear that belonged to my mother. It wasn't worth anything in terms of $$$, but to me it was priceless.

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I was a poor grad student. I didn't have anything valuable in my car either. But they don't know that until they've pillaged it!

I even had the glove compartment locked. STUPID! They broke the door open and I had pay to have the entire unit replaced.

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