Beijing will raise the parking fees in the downtown, especially those areas often suffering from congestion, the Beijing Morning Post reported yesterday.

The traffic condition of the Second and Fourth Ring roads is deteriorating this year, the newspaper said.

In October, the traffic on the Second Ring Road was 8,771 vehicles per hour, 303 vehicles more from a year ago. The average speed was 40.6 kilometers per hour, while it was 45.7 kilometers per hour last year.

The situation on the Fourth Ring Road was also worse than last year, according to the report.

Local authority said the downtown is attracting more traffic, to which the government is considering increasing parking charges to ease the problem for the Second Ring Road.

The Fourth Ring's trouble was attributed to the busy development along the road, the Post said.

However, the situation of the Third Ring Road this year is better than that of last year. The traffic was 8,438 vehicles per hour in October, 83 vehicles less than last year. The average speed was about 2 kilometers an hour faster than a year ago.

(Shanghai Daily December 16, 2005)