Cheap parking for ‘home’ visits
Print Edition
THE operators of an apartment complex in Xuhui District are offering discounted car parking to non-residents in a bid to encourage more people to visit their elderly parents.
Sun Huimin, Party secretary of the Yuannan No. 1 residential community, said that since the launch of the new system, some of its senior residents said their children had been staying longer than they had before.
“Although there is a law that forces people to visit their parents, we think it’s also good to encourage people in a more persuasive way,” she told Shanghai Daily.
Previously, non-residents were required to pay 5 yuan (80 US cents) an hour to park at the compound, but they can now get a one-year unlimited pass for just 200 yuan, Sun said.
More than 20 people have bought the cards since they were introduced earlier this year.
The complex is home to more than 4,300 households, of which about 30 percent are seniors.
A man surnamed Zhang whose parents live at the complex said that they sometimes tell him not to stay too long as they don’t want him to have to pay too much.
“The current parking fee is not expensive, but my parents are quite frugal, so now they don’t have to worry about how much each visit is costing me,” he said.
“I wasn’t worried about the money, but I’m still happy that I’ll save about 1,800 yuan a year from now on,” he said.
The community has about 700 parking spaces, and card-holders can come and go as they please during the day, Sun said. “Unfortunately, they can’t stay overnight, as there is not enough room for them all,” she said.
The Yuannan community is proud of the efforts it makes to care for its elderly residents.
Sun said that a system is already in place whereby volunteers make regular visits to people aged 80 and over, while the neighborhood committee writes letters and makes telephone calls to the children of elderly residents at key dates in the calendar, like festivals and national holidays, to remind them to visit their parents.
“Nothing makes seniors happier than seeing their children,” she said.
A new law went into effect in July 2013, making it illegal to neglect the “spiritual needs” of the elderly. A clause in the legislation stipulates that children of elderly parents must stay in regular contact with them.
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