New parking policy

The municipal government's proposal to ease traffic congestion in beijing

Parking fees

Car parking fees will vary according to location. The cost of parking in the downtown area will be higher than elsewhere in the city. Parking lots on the street level will also be more expensive than in underground facilities.

The city will be categorized into three zones according to their levels of traffic congestion, with higher parking fees in congested areas.

Parking spaces

More than 50,000 parking spaces will be built in downtown Beijing. Garages and multi-story car parks will be erected at major hospitals, including Beijing Hospital and Beijing Tongren Hospital.

An additional 200,000 new parking spaces will become available in old residential communities, predominantly at the instruction of district-level governments. An inquiry will be launched to clear land that has been designated for parking but has been used for other purposes. Private financing is encouraged for building parking lots.

Guidance will be issued to government agencies, enterprises and other organizations, urging them to open car parks for the public.

Local governments will build inexpensive park and ride facilities. In Beijing, more than 30,000 parking spaces will be opened at subway stations located outside the Fourth Ring Road.

Strict fines will be imposed for illegal parking.

Public transportation

More special lanes will be designated for public transport on main roads and those prone to congestion, such as Beijing's Third Ring Road.

By the end of 2011, the construction of special lanes for express buses will be completed in Fushi Road, Beijing.

Nine transportation hubs will be built in Beijing, including the areas of Sihui, Songjiazhuang and Pingguoyuan.

The use of school buses and company shuttle buses is encouraged.

Bicycles encouraged

A bicycle sharing system featuring 1,000 sites equipped with more than 50,000 bikes will be completed during the period of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015).

A pilot bicycle sharing program will soon be launched, in which more than 200 sites with 10,000 bikes will open to the public at subway stations along lines No 4, No 5 and Batong.

Roads

The city will start to construct tunnels on eastern and western sections of the Second Ring Road in 2011. There will be five fast lanes with an overall length of 37.3 kilometers, due to be completed by the end of 2012.

Two hundred kilometers of new roads will be completed in downtown Beijing by the end of 2012.

Traffic restrictions

Traffic controls according to the last number of a car's license plate - odd or even - will be used on congested roads during rush hours.

Public service broadcasting will encourage people to use public transportation and obey the rules of the road.

The use of modern technology, such as teleconferences, will be promoted for the use of government agencies to help ease traffic congestion.

A plan on easing congestion will be drafted and updated each year. The results will be compiled and compared in testing the performance of governments at city and district levels.

(China Daily December 14, 2010)