Parking fees 'helpedreduce traffic gridlock'

Commuters in the capital spent 20 minutes less in traffic jams last month as a direct result of the parking charge hike, say transport authorities.

After fees were raised citywide on April 1, the daily average congestion time inside the Fifth Ring Road fell to 45 minutes, 20 minutes less than the average for March and one hours and 45 minutes less than in April 2010, according to figures from the Beijing Transport Research Center.

"April is usually the month when traffic flow starts to increase, but this year it decreased," said center director Guo Jifu, who added that of the 35 roads included in the monitoring system, 29 saw a drop in traffic.