Shenzhen plans to raise parking fees by an average of 130 percent to alleviate downtown traffic congestion and encourage public transport.

The final decision will be announced after a public hearing to be held Sept. 15.

Private car owners could pay an average of extra 694 yuan (US$85) each month for parking according to a municipal traffic police bureau proposal announced Tuesday.

Public commercial parking lots will have the biggest price hike, while the increase in residential community will be between 20 to 40 percent. The fee standard remains almost unchanged at wharfs, long-distance bus stations and scenic spots.

The new pricing policy will have more categories such as workdays and weekends, peak and off-peak hours, downtown and non-downtown. The 17 areas in the downtown and alongside the subway such as Huaqiangbei, Dongmen, Shangbu, SZ Railway Station, Ludan Village, Chegongmiao and Nanshan central business area, put in first-grade category, will have to pay a premium while less-crowded areas like Sungang, Zhuzilin, Yuanling, Melin, Overseas Chinese Town, High-tech zone and Shekou will not be hit with such a large price hike. The areas mainly outside the special economic zone will be least affected by the plan.

The bureau said they looked at parking pricing policies in Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong that bore similar urban features with Shenzhen such as a large population and limited space before drawing up the scheme.

There are 746,111 registered vehicles in Shenzhen by June 30 this year, 76.2 percent of them are cars. The vehicle density per square kilometer has reached 260, which is approaching the international standard for a city's saturated capacity of 270.

There is a shortage of 33,437 parking spaces in the daytime and 27,925 at night.

The comparatively low parking fee is largely responsible for traffic jams and parking difficulties in Shenzhen. A car owner would pay five yuan to park for three hours at a downtown indoor parking lot in Shenzhen, the price in Shanghai, Beijing and Nanjing is 13 yuan, 15 yuan and 15 yuan.

As the bureau analyzed from the scientific model, the parking fee increase will directly decrease the number of vehicles. For example, if the fee is raised by 20 yuan, the number will reduce by 5.1 percent. The city expects the new standard to adjust the using time of vehicle owners and cultivate the habit of taking the public transport.

(Shenzhen Daily September 7, 2005)