Space race over parking fees

In Shanghai, the price to park - which exceeds 60 yuan per hour in some lots - is not the problem. Finding a space is.

On average, parking a car in a downtown Shanghai area costs 1,900 yuan a month, according to a survey released in 2010 by Colliers International, a real estate services firm. The survey covered parking fees in 147 cities worldwide, and Shanghai's ranked near the top in China. (Hong Kong's average was 4,880 a month.)

Shanghai rules allow an hourly charge up to 10 yuan in commercial parking lots and up to 15 yuan for parking on pavement. Some parking lots attached to hotels, office buildings and shopping malls may charge more.

One small lot attached to a hotel at the Bund area charges 80 yuan per hour to discourage drivers who do not register at the hotel or have other business there, according to a report in Oriental Morning Post.

Despite the high fees, parking lots in downtown Shanghai are usually packed. "The major problem is that you can't find a lot when you need one," said Zhang Lu, 37.

Zhang works for a company at People's Square, one of the busiest places in Shanghai. "The parking lot attached to the building I work in has only 200 places, and I estimate that more than 500 people working there drive to work."

It is important to use economic means to regulate car parking and to enhance effective use of parking facilities and roads, according to Shi Wenjun, an engineer with Shanghai City Transportation Planning with expertise in parking planning and road research.

Increasing parking lots downtown does not mean it will be easier to find a parking place, Shi said: No matter how rapidly the lots expand, they cannot keep up with demand. Limiting parking spaces downtown can adjust road traffic to a degree, Shi said, but supplies must be appropriate or traffic and congestion will increase.

The number of vehicles registered in Shanghai exceeded 1.67 million by the end of last year, and 850,000 of them were private cars, according to the Shanghai Municipal Statistics Bureau.

The city has built more parking lots, especially park-and-ride services, to curb the use of private cars. The parking fee usually runs no more than 15 yuan per day, well under that charged at commercial lots, according to Shanghai Transport and Port Authority.

Some of the lower cost lots started operating last May, when Expo 2010 Shanghai opened.

Wang Jing collects parking fees at a park-and-ride lot at Songjiang that has space for more than 300 cars. Wang said cars there are rare.

Shanghai Transport is optimistic that, over time, private car owners will see the benefits of driving less and taking public transportation more.