It's getting harder and harder to walk around the streets of New York City--or to be more accurate, the streets of Manhattan. Partly it's because more and more smaller buildings are being replaced by more and more larger buildings, which means there are more and more people occupying a static amount of space.
Adding to this is the seemingly exponential growth in the number of tourists. This is in large part due to the state of the US economy and the poor state of the US dollar vis-a-vis other currencies. This makes it more economical for furriners to come here than for us to go there. It also means that many Americans can't even afford trips overseas so they travel locally.
The influx of tour buses is so extreme that the city is considering building a huge parking garage for them just to get them off the streets. And there are areas of the city, particularly in lower Manhattan, where the width of the sidewalks has been increased to accommodate tourists entering and exiting the buses, which cuts into the flow of vehicular traffic.
Adding to this is the seemingly exponential growth in the number of tourists. This is in large part due to the state of the US economy and the poor state of the US dollar vis-a-vis other currencies. This makes it more economical for furriners to come here than for us to go there. It also means that many Americans can't even afford trips overseas so they travel locally.
The influx of tour buses is so extreme that the city is considering building a huge parking garage for them just to get them off the streets. And there are areas of the city, particularly in lower Manhattan, where the width of the sidewalks has been increased to accommodate tourists entering and exiting the buses, which cuts into the flow of vehicular traffic.
