Getting around in a new city is one of the first things you have to figure out. In Parma, I quickly learned that it looks very different from how I get around at home in Los Angeles. In LA, I drive almost everywhere. Here, people bike, walk and take the bus. In this field note, I share how people move around Parma, how I felt trying it for myself and how it connects to the city’s culture and environment.
In Parma, the most common thing is biking everywhere. Since the city is not big, it is quite easy to bike places, especially with bike lanes and other infrastructure designed for cyclists. Another important mode of transportation is walking and using the buses. They are pretty reliable during the day, but after 8:00 p.m. it is hard to use them. At night, buses only run once an hour and only certain lines run at all. I have been able to use the same bus to take me to class, the city center and more. It is a good line to connect me to other lines if I need to go down to campus where I work out. People here do drive too, but almost all the cars are manual instead of automatic, which is very different from the United States. We don’t have subway systems in Parma since it is such a small city. Plus, every time they try to build one they find historical ruins and need to stop. Bigger European cities like Milan and Valencia have subways, though.
