Beijing is planning to double street parking charges from April 1stin an attempt to reduce car use. Peak charges will be 10 yuan per hour which is just a bit under a pound with 15 yuan an hour for cars parking above an hour. Off street parking will be 6 yuan. Mayor Guo Jinlong states that the plan is to get about 800,000 cars off the road each day and to increase public transport ridership from 38 to 40%.
Now it is said that those who do not learn the lesson of history are doomed to repeat its mistakes and I fear that those who govern Beijing perhaps need to look at what is and has happened elsewhere. Beijing wants to reduce cars in use by 800,000 a day but last year they licensed (you guessed it) 800,000 new cars. I don't know about Beijing but in Shanghai the government determines how many new cars will be allowed to join the vehicle fleet and only sell that many new licences each month. The licenses are auctioned and sold to the highest bidder. If Beijing wants fewer cars used wouldn't a starting point be to stop the vehicle fleet growing? They did it in Singapore after all.
Next how about the charges? In terms of the average man in the street the charges are probably quite high, for the car owners they probably aren't. And if you don't want to allow people to drive in and out of the centre and park on the street limit the parking to two hours on the street and multiply the off-street charges after say four hours. Just remember to double the traffic police and fines if you do!
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