Beijing-parking-ITDP-China

Modal split figures for Beijing show a dramatic increase in car traffic.Source: modified from original version Beijing Transportation Research Center2.2 Parking policy evolutionIn the past ten years Beijing issued a series ofpolicies to solve parking problems and guideand coordinate parking planning, constructionand management. The most important ones aredescribed following.Beijing Urban Master Plan (2004-2020),Beijing city government – input fromPlanning Bureau, 2004According to Beijing’s 2004-2020 Urban MasterPlan, traffic problems are intended to be solvedwith public transport priority, by enhancing theattractiveness of public transport, and by policiesto guide car traffic away from central areas, whererestrictions on car use are encouraged.Parking supply restrictions and parking pricedifferentiation are chosen as tools to steer trafficaway from central areas, especially in the old citycenter. Full use of existing parking facilities isencouraged. Somewhat contradictively, city governments’budgets were assigned to develop 200public parking lots and build Park+Ride (P+R)facilities at metro stations, in order to lure driversinto using public transport in the city center.This results in prime metro-adjacent real estatebeing devoted to low value parking, and generatesonly a single peak hour trip in each direction onan already-overcrowded metro system. Parkingdemand management was mentioned as well.Beijing Transportation DevelopmentProgram 2004-2020, CommunicationsCommission, 2005The Beijing Transportation DevelopmentProgram, developed by the CommunicationsCommission, proposed a vast expansion of parkingsupply. The goal for 2010 was to have built oneparking space for every car in Beijing, a policydubbed ‘1 car 1 space’, which flies in the face ofinternational best practices on using parking as atraffic demand management tool. Moreover theCommunications Commission stipulated that by2010 10% of all cars should be able to use public,government-owned parking spaces, with theothers developed by developers (in residentialareas) and private investors in off-street parking.In the old city center though, a parking capand differentiated parking prices were to beimplemented to limit car use. Parking guidancesystems were to be built in the entire city centerto improve parking information services. Themain focus for the central areas was put on theimprovement of public transport. In new developmentsaway from the city center, more off-streetparking would be allowed, following a guidelineof 1.2-1.3 parking spaces per car.Beijing Parking, ITDP-China 81 March 2015