https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/parking-lots-eat-american-...
> Detroit was, or is, Motor City. Its center can pull off another automotive-related nickname: Parking Central. Fully one-third of downtown Detroit is dedicated to letting cars do what they’re not designed for: standing still.
Next trip will be more planned for sure. I was impressed with the highways though. Definitely a motorists’ dream to get around the various suburbs.
Just because you didn't want to deal with it and didn't do research ahead of time doesn't mean "We couldn’t even park downtown". You didn't want to, and that's fine.
There’s a giant parking lot with 10,000 spaces and 2 are free. There is ‘no parking’ unless you want to drive around for 2 hours.
For enough money you could probably get a permit from the cops and a security detail and park wherever you wanted, like in a city park. There is still ‘no parking’ in parks.
Within parameters that apply in the majority of cities I’ve tried to park in, there was no parking. In future I’ll download the app, book a spot and bring my phone charger and then I’ll be able to access the parking.
In Detroit the options were street parking (all full) or flat rate in a garage behind an app. I looked for a ticket machine and there were none. My bad for not doing research but still, I had a good day elsewhere in the metro, was just surprised by the inflexibility in the DT core.
It was the end of the day and I wanted to walk around and scout out stuff for next visit. If I spent all day there I’d happily pay the $20-40 but not for an hour walk, that’s silly when I can look at stuff in Windsor where my accommodation and free parking were.