More underground parking lots
1/7/2005 8:30
Zhang Jun/Shanghai Daily news
The city plans to
set up thousands of new underground parking spots near subway transfer hubs by
2010, government officials announced yesterday.
The plan calls for more than
60 percent of parking spots in the city to be located underground, and to make
lots more accessible.
Currently, about half of the city's public parking
spots are underground, but they are not well utilized as most drivers prefer to
park their cars at street level.
"The new parking lots will be very
convenient for drivers because they will be located in key traffic positions and
very easy to use," said Shen Rende, a senior engineer with the Shanghai Urban
Planning Administrative Bureau.
He said the city has planned to build
underground parking lots near 17 major subway transfer hubs by 2010.
"We
expect to reduce the number of vehicles in use downtown as many drivers can park
their cars and take the subway to their destinations," he said.
He said plans
call for 100 to 300 parking spots to be built near each subway hub in
downtown.
Those transfer hubs include Jing'an Temple Station, Wujiaochang
Station, Shanghai South Railway Station, Hongkou Football Stadium Station and
Century Avenue Station.
By 2010, Shanghai's subway system will cover 410
kilometers, up from the current 94 kilometers of tracks in the city.
"By
2010, we will set up a citywide parking lot information platform that will
enable drivers to reserve a parking spot or check for vacant lots by cell phone
or the Internet," said Xu Peng, an official with the Shanghai Transport
Information Center.
"Drivers will also be able to pay the parking fees with
the city's widely-adopted public transport cards," he added.
Currently, the
city has more than 1,300 parking lots with 110,000 spots in total.
Officials
envision a shortage of parking lots in the city downtown as 20,000 to 25,000 new
vehicles arrive on local streets every year.
Many drivers complained that
some of the local parking lots don't have clear entrance signs and the city
doesn't have a universal standard for parking fees.
"It is difficult to find
a good underground parking lot with reasonable prices, particularly on main
shopping streets," said Zhao Guoliang, who drives to work each
day.
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