Minhang's parking dilemma
By Hu Min |
February 25, 2012, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
JUST try to find a parking space in Minhang and you will begin to understand the frustration facing motorists and the headache facing district officials.
There are simply way more cars than parking spaces.
Cindy Wang, who works at the Zizhu Science Park, knows the problem all too well.
"Every time I take my daughter to the Minhang Sports Park on weekends, there are no parking spaces," she complained.
Her husband drove to the branch office of a securities company on Caobao Road recently to open a trading account. Finding nowhere to park, he left the car in an unauthorized spot, only to return to find a parking ticket.
The numbers frame the magnitude of the problem.
Minhang had about 259,000 registered vehicles at the end of January, according to district traffic authorities. If all the vehicles were lined up end-to-end, they would stretch 1,036 kilometers, almost equal the distance from Shanghai to Beijing.
Currently, Minhang has about 180 parking lots of varying sizes, providing spaces for about 32,000 vehicles. Small wonder that so many motorists end up parking haphazardly along roadways where they shouldn't be.
The district is considering an array of solutions, such as allowing more parking lots to be built, adjusting parking times and enhancing traffic enforcement. The crunch defies easy resolution.
Another driver, surnamed Zhang, who works in an office building on Yazhi Road, said she has to get to work earlier and earlier to ensure there is a parking space. The building, which houses dozens of companies, provides less than 100 parking spaces.
Some narrow commercial streets, like Xinjian, Xindong and Shuiqing roads, suffer from chronic congestion because people just park wherever they can wedge their cars when they want to patronize shops there.
The influx of workers from out-of-town and rapid urban development have contributed to the problem. Traffic management has lagged the surge in motorists, and a careless public attitude toward parking exacerbates the problem, said a senior official surnamed Wan with the Minhang Construction and Transport Committee. He declined to give his full name.
Many residential communities and shopping malls simply didn't foresee the rapid expansion of cars and plan enough parking spaces during construction, Wan said. Many older communities built in the 1980s and 90s have no parking spaces at all.
Meanwhile, Minhang's population has soared to 2.43 million, almost double a decade ago.
District Governor Mo Fuchun was grilled about the traffic problems in January during the annual sessions of the Minhang District People's Congress and its consultative committee.
He offered no panacea, but he did tell lawmakers about a trial project in Qibao area that is aimed at helping alleviate the problem.
The project involves reconstructing an underground parking lot beneath the greenery at the Chengshi Huayuan residential community.
Questions about who will fund the project, who holds property rights and whether to sell or rent parking spaces have been slow to resolve.
At the same time, no one wants to see the greenbelt in the community destroyed or diminished in the name of more parking.
At present, the district has decided that property developer China Vanke will be allowed to finance the project. Meetings will be held with community residents to determine who does the construction and what the plans entail.
One obvious conundrum of the parking problem is that businesses need parking space during the daytime but not at night. Residential communities, on the other hand, need overnight parking spaces but don't need them as much during the day.
At present, there are major parking lots at 258 Duhui Road (200), 999 Hongmei Road S. (73), 3211 Hongmei Road (201), 1888 Yishan Road (47), 5001 Dushi Road (1,265), 1255 Lianhua Road (210), 3337 Hongmei Road (285), 1265 Caobao Road (162), 3579 Hongxin Road (480), 1881 Gubei Road (164) and 718 Hongjing Road (160).
There are simply way more cars than parking spaces.
Cindy Wang, who works at the Zizhu Science Park, knows the problem all too well.
"Every time I take my daughter to the Minhang Sports Park on weekends, there are no parking spaces," she complained.
Her husband drove to the branch office of a securities company on Caobao Road recently to open a trading account. Finding nowhere to park, he left the car in an unauthorized spot, only to return to find a parking ticket.
The numbers frame the magnitude of the problem.
Minhang had about 259,000 registered vehicles at the end of January, according to district traffic authorities. If all the vehicles were lined up end-to-end, they would stretch 1,036 kilometers, almost equal the distance from Shanghai to Beijing.
Currently, Minhang has about 180 parking lots of varying sizes, providing spaces for about 32,000 vehicles. Small wonder that so many motorists end up parking haphazardly along roadways where they shouldn't be.
The district is considering an array of solutions, such as allowing more parking lots to be built, adjusting parking times and enhancing traffic enforcement. The crunch defies easy resolution.
Another driver, surnamed Zhang, who works in an office building on Yazhi Road, said she has to get to work earlier and earlier to ensure there is a parking space. The building, which houses dozens of companies, provides less than 100 parking spaces.
Some narrow commercial streets, like Xinjian, Xindong and Shuiqing roads, suffer from chronic congestion because people just park wherever they can wedge their cars when they want to patronize shops there.
The influx of workers from out-of-town and rapid urban development have contributed to the problem. Traffic management has lagged the surge in motorists, and a careless public attitude toward parking exacerbates the problem, said a senior official surnamed Wan with the Minhang Construction and Transport Committee. He declined to give his full name.
Many residential communities and shopping malls simply didn't foresee the rapid expansion of cars and plan enough parking spaces during construction, Wan said. Many older communities built in the 1980s and 90s have no parking spaces at all.
Meanwhile, Minhang's population has soared to 2.43 million, almost double a decade ago.
District Governor Mo Fuchun was grilled about the traffic problems in January during the annual sessions of the Minhang District People's Congress and its consultative committee.
He offered no panacea, but he did tell lawmakers about a trial project in Qibao area that is aimed at helping alleviate the problem.
The project involves reconstructing an underground parking lot beneath the greenery at the Chengshi Huayuan residential community.
Questions about who will fund the project, who holds property rights and whether to sell or rent parking spaces have been slow to resolve.
At the same time, no one wants to see the greenbelt in the community destroyed or diminished in the name of more parking.
At present, the district has decided that property developer China Vanke will be allowed to finance the project. Meetings will be held with community residents to determine who does the construction and what the plans entail.
One obvious conundrum of the parking problem is that businesses need parking space during the daytime but not at night. Residential communities, on the other hand, need overnight parking spaces but don't need them as much during the day.
At present, there are major parking lots at 258 Duhui Road (200), 999 Hongmei Road S. (73), 3211 Hongmei Road (201), 1888 Yishan Road (47), 5001 Dushi Road (1,265), 1255 Lianhua Road (210), 3337 Hongmei Road (285), 1265 Caobao Road (162), 3579 Hongxin Road (480), 1881 Gubei Road (164) and 718 Hongjing Road (160).
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