Parking info to go online
- Source: Global Times
- [08:43 April 12 2011]
- Comments
A cyclist rides down Sanlitun Beixiaojie Monday. Photo: Guo Yingguang/GT
By Zhang Hui
The traffic control authority will establish an online platform to update occupancy rates in Beijing parking lots in a bid to make the hunt for a free spot a little easier.
An official with the Transportation Administration of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport told the Global Times Monday that they were investigating the parking resources of six downtown areas and 10 suburban districts and counties.
"We will publish the results on our website as soon as we get feedback from the district-level transport authorities," said the anonymous official. "It's going to be published soon."
While drivers are struggling to find available legal spaces, some fraudsters are feigning authority over free spots and charging drivers parking fees.
Sanlitun Beixiaojie is not among the registered parking areas where fees are required.
Yet many drivers paid parking fees there to people wearing red armbands or police-style uniforms, a security officer at the embassy of Spain told the Global Times Monday.
"They usually ride electric bicycles or motorcycles and charge fees at around 9 am and 6 pm every day," he said.
An employee of a nearby supermarket told the Beijing News that most area merchants knew people were illegally charging parking fees and refused to pay, but that residents were not aware of the situation.
A Sanlitun chengguan (urban law enforcement officer) told the Beijing News they could only urge these unidentified people to go away, "but they hide every time we show up."
Guo Yingguang contributed to this story
