Beijing-parking-ITDP-China

2.1 BackgroundWith 21.5 million residents by the end of 2014,Beijing is one of the world’s biggest cities.Following vast investments in roads and parkingspaces, the share of car traffic in Beijing’s modalsplit has risen drastically, creating more demandfor parking spaces. Of all Chinese cities, Beijinghas the largest number of cars registered with4.37 million cars, of which 3.17 million belongto individuals. As of July 2014, 6,156 parkinglocations with 1,643,141 parking spaces were inoperation. Beijing’s rapid construction of parkingspaces saw 73,205 new parking spaces (4.7% oftotal supply) compared to one quarter earlier. Thegrowth in parking supply is still lower than thegrowth in vehicle ownership and the vast amountof parking spaces Beijing already has, have hadnegative effects on the city’s traffic, land resources,public spaces and air pollution.Car traffic is one of the main causes of air pollutionSource: iFeng news (2014)北 京 的 机 动 化 进 程机 动 车 保 有 量 ( 万 辆 )私 人 汽 车 ( 万 辆 )机 动 车 拥 有 率12% 12% 13%15% 15%17% 18% 19% 20%22%25% 25% 25% 26% 26%Growing motorization in Beijing is putting pressure on road capacity and contributing to air pollutionSources: 1. Beijing Traffic Management Bureau (2014), Traffic Management Data from 2000, http://www.bjjtgl.gov.cn/publish/portal0/tab803/; 2. Annual report of Beijing Statistics Bureau, http://www.bjstats.gov.cn/xwgb/tjgb/ndgb/Beijing Parking, ITDP-China 71 March 2015