Parking Guidebook for Beijing

Increased car ownership in Beijing has resulted in a higher demand for parking spaces. Rather than taking a restrictive approach to parking as a means to reduce car travel and ownership, the government is trying to increase parking supply in an effort to solve parking problems.

Simply increasing parking supply is not a solution as it leads to more traffic and lost opportunities for high-value uses like offices, retail and residences. Each parking space takes up 30m2 to 35m2 and car drivers need between two to five different parking spaces every day. Therefore it is crucial for the success of Beijing to start managing parking holistically and implement and enforce parking systems and policies that have proven their success elsewhere. The parking problems are not unique to Beijing and lessons can be learned from other cities that have experienced increased motorization.

This report studies Beijing’s existing parking policies and systems and studies several parking locations, residential, commercial, office and mixed use areas, both on-street and off-street, documenting existing parking practices in Beijing. An analysis of problems identifies the main parking issues and Chinese and international best practices described. Recommendations are given for on-street parking, including parking zones, price, policies, technology, enforcement, design, operation models, costing & financing. For off-street parking recommendations are presented for parking maximums, caps and parking sharing. Furthermore recommendations for communication on parking reform are offered.