When my flight landed in Munich, I immediately noticed the difference in how people traveled from one place to another. I was able to take a train and a bus directly from the airport to my accommodation, and since I arrived here, I have not needed a car at all. The public transportation in Munich has enabled me to easily reach everywhere I wanted to go. In contrast, in the United States, it is impossible to get around without a car. People rely on cars because there are no other transportation options available. In Munich, however, trams, trains, bikes, buses, shared vehicles, and more are all accessible for getting around the city. For me and many others, public transport is a more logical choice in Munich.
Another notable difference in transportation is the treatment of pedestrian walk signs. Every day, as I walk to class at the Goethe-Institut, I have to cross a road. In the United States, it is common for people to treat pedestrian walk signs as a suggestion and cross the road when no cars are coming. However, whenever I encounter a pedestrian walk sign here, I have not seen a single pedestrian cross until the light changes from red to green. Every time, everyone waits patiently. I was surprised by this consistent behavior of waiting before crossing the street, regardless of the context. It surprised me even more to observe that people didn’t wait to cross at crossings without pedestrian waiting signs. In the U.S., cars do not wait for people to cross the street, and pedestrians have to wait for an opening. However, in Munich, people confidently walk across the street while cars patiently wait for them to cross. In the USA, cars control the roads, and everyone relies on them for transportation, whereas in Munich, people have various other means of getting around, and cars yield to pedestrians.