Beijing-parking-ITDP-China

long-term parking. On-street parking shouldonly be for short-term parking and high prices,combined with time limits, need to ensure this.A flat parking fee per parking event incentivizesdrivers to park as long as possible to maximizethe sunk costs for parking there. It also encourageslong-term parking to occur on-street, whererelocating this parking demand to off-street parkingplaces is preferred. The surveys show thereis a large share of long-term parking (>3 hours)on many streets. An hourly (or half-hourly) feewill encourage drivers to park only for as long asthey need, resulting a higher turnover and highervacancy of on-street parking spaces. More spaceswill be available to short-term parkers who comefor a quick purchase and leave immediately, soon-street parking spaces will see higher turnoverand generate more customers for local businesses.A low price for curb parking may sound good forbusiness, but it is not. Actual pricing of parking ofthe Development & Reform Committee’s parkingprice will mostly affect commuters, who do notwish to pay hourly on-street parking fees. Theywill look for off-street parking spaces instead,giving back on-street spaces to short-term users,or use public transport, walk or cycle instead.Current hourly parking fees of 3.75RMB/15minutes can be kept, although higher prices athigh-demand, central locations may be needed.After implementation of the proposed on-streetparking system, occupancies need to be analyzedand parking prices adjusted to the new demand.On-street parking fees for residential parkingare recommended to be increased, since heavilydiscounted monthly parking fees incentivize carownership, and therefore car use.It is recommended to consider implementingincremental parking fees in future, when thesystem has matured. This entails raising thehourly parking fee incrementally for every consecutivehour parked. For instance, the first hourof parking costs 15RMB, the second 20RMB, thethird 30RMB. This is an additional incentive fordrivers to park off-street for long-term parking,freeing up curb-side space.Finally, the Development & Reform Committeeis not the best organization to take decisions onparking prices. Because parking prices are soclosely related to transport, the CommunicationsCommission should have a much stronger voicein the parking price.6.3 Parking bans and timelimitsWhen implementing the proposed on-streetparking system, streets need to be redesigned toaccommodate on-street parking spaces. On somestreets no on-street parking should be designedfor. Parking bans should be considered on streetswith a clear traffic function (as already is the caseThe chart above shows hourly parking fees for city centers in selected cities worldwide (in Chinese yuan/RMB).Beijing Parking, ITDP-China 1221 March 2015