Just to play against type for a moment, yes for certain kinds of businesses and destinations, ones which want to attract significant numbers of people from outside the city on a regular basis, parking is a genuine issue. I imagine this is somewhat to do with the fact that "driving into the city and parking" is a genuinely scary thing for some people who don't do it regularly, and somewhat to do with the fact that's it actually kind of difficult to solve the problem of how to smoothly and easily deal with 1000 or so cars arriving and leaving at the same times. It's a flawed model, though it's the one we're largely stuck with.
I also stand by my earlier "performances should start early" assertion. 10:30 is a bit late to be finding your car and driving back to the burbs if you have to work the next day. I, smugly, just walk home or take a quick bus ride if the weather is crap.
(ht)
