[Aachen]

Do people in the center of big cities in the USA have multiple private parking spots right out front? (I genuinely don't know but I'll make an assumption.) Perhaps in smaller cities they might have made it a priority over the decades while the city grew, but in something like NYC I can't imagine they didn't run into practicality issues. Do people there not expect visitors ever? Of course they do. You hop on the metro, I assume at least. Same here, and if you live outside of a big city's center, you'll find it's not only free to park anywhere, it's actually annoyingly hard to do normal things without a car. I was in Limburg a few weeks ago for 8 days, alone without a driver's license to use said car parked out front (the thing expired, I didn't notice). Let me tell you I didn't see many places and family had to pick me up or I'd have had hours of public transport time for a 20 minute drive to their place.

[seibelj]

Most cities in America are very car-focused, including metropolises like Los Angeles. San Francisco also needs cars, at least uber, given the downtown transit system is a joke for true commuting.

The only cities in the US with actual transit systems that can 100% replace cars without being super annoying / delayed are NYC (and larger commuting areas like Jersey City), Boston, and Chicago. I know people in Boston who have lived in the farther-out neighborhoods (Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, etc.) completely without cars and it is do-able.

Within those three cities, there is still a lot of parking, and if you need more dedicated space there are garages with reasonable monthly rates. My understanding in places like Amsterdam the parking / driving situation is vastly different.