The parking facilities in Beijing’s office buildings should be open to the public for paid use, according to the third draft of the Beijing Motor Vehicle Regulations issued on Nov. 29.

Survey shows that the amount of parking space in Beijing closely matches the number of registered vehicles in need. In practice, however, many older neighborhoods are in severe shortage of parking lots, especially at night. 

Meanwhile, 60 percent of parking spaces in office buildings are left vacant during evening hours. 

Li Xiaojuan, deputy head of the legal committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress, said the guiding principle of the legislation is not large-scale construction, but innovation in the access and sharing of resources.

Li said the draft policy requires payment for accessing the parking lots in office buildings because the parking spots are usually privately owned.

Li added that communities should build more parking lots to meet the demand of their residents. If some neighborhoods are not suitable for additional construction, the draft policy stipulates seven ways to deal with it, including sharing the parking lots pertain to the neighboring public buildings by payment, building temporary parking lots in unused space and developing underground parking spaces.

The draft policy also includes guidelines for setting the fees for roadside parking: Downtown areas could charge more than the suburbs, key areas could charge more than ordinary areas, and fees could be higher during rush hours than the rest of the day. 

It also stipulates that fees in the parking lots should be market-regulated -- in line with the location, demand, and additional services provided.

The draft policy calls for the society as a whole to work together to build and maintain the orderly parking of motor vehicles.

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