Shared spaces ease parking woes

After reserving a parking space in the Harbin City Planning Exhibition Hall parking lot via a WeChat mini-program named City Parking Pass, Xu Xin took a sigh of relief. He could easily park his car from then on instead of scouting around for a parking lot when returning home late from work.

"Since the shared parking spaces were promoted at the beginning of the year, I have experienced the great convenience," said the 43-year-old communications engineer in Harbin, Heilongjiang province. "I live in a nearby residential area where it is difficult to find a parking space in the evening."

"Furthermore, the parking fee is low," he said. "It costs only 6 yuan (80 cents) for a night."

Aligned with the city's implementation plan for the shared parking spaces for government agencies and institutions, the first batch of 758 shared parking spaces from 43 units have been officially launched in Harbin, according to the Harbin Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau.

The problem of urban parking difficulties and chaos has been prominent in the city in recent years.

To further alleviate the imbalance between parking supply and demand, the bureau has actively coordinated with related departments to make the utmost of existing parking resources to meet the basic nighttime parking needs of residents.

So far, the bureau has coordinated and signed opening agreements with over 70 government organs, enterprises and institutions throughout the city.

At the entrance of the parking lots, residents can find the prominent yellow-background black-letter sign — "Shared Parking Lot" — with a QR code for the City Parking Pass mini-program.

Residents who want to enjoy shared parking spaces in the city need to register and log in on the app or WeChat mini-program of City Parking Pass.

Then they can access information such as the locations, times and prices, reserve and navigate the government's staggered parking services.

During the daytime, from 7:30 am to 6:30 pm, the parking fee is charged on an hourly basis, with a basic charge at 5 yuan for up to 2 hours. From 6:30 pm to 7:30 am, the charge is 6 yuan per use. On holidays, continuous parking for 24 hours demands a fee of 20 yuan.

Other cities across the country have made similar offers to ease parking pressure in urban areas.

Taizhou city in Zhejiang province added 5,555 new shared parking spaces this year, an increase of 39.1 percent compared to 2023. So far, a total of 19,759 shared parking spaces from 298 government agencies and institutions in Taizhou have been opened for staggered use for the public.

Starting from April 12, Xuzhou city in Jiangsu province has been promoting the parking lots of municipal government agencies, public institutions and enterprises to the public for free on weekends, on the basis of the current free opening during holidays. After the full coverage phase begins on Oct 1, a total of 3,168 parking spaces across the city will be provided to the public on weekends and holidays for free.