Multi‑storey Parking | The multi‑storey parking garage at the North Plaza of Beijing South Railway Station will provide parking spaces for residents.

(Beijing News, June 10) Starting July 1, Fengtai District will transition more than 56 minor roads from “manual cash tolling” to “electronic tolling,” and from “commercial fees” to “administrative and public‑service fees.” To address residents’ parking challenges, the multi-level parking garage at the north plaza of Beijing South Railway Station may soon offer parking spaces to local residents.

Recently, the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress conducted enforcement inspections in the Fengtai and Xicheng districts to assess compliance with the “Two Regulations and One Decision.” Issues such as on‑street parking management, the supply of parking spaces in residential areas, the regulation of electric bicycles, and the management of shared bicycles were all included in the scope of these inspections.

Under the Beijing On‑Street Parking Reform Plan, the Fengtai and Xicheng districts have reorganized and marked on‑street parking spaces to improve parking management. Starting with last year’s National Day holiday, Xicheng District designated 5,500 electronically billed parking spaces along 69 roads, allowing drivers to pay online via the “Beijing Traffic” app, the official WeChat account, WeChat City Services, or Alipay’s city services. Beginning July 1, Fengtai District will implement electronic payment—using video‑based bollards or high‑point video surveillance—for a total of 6,618 parking spaces on 56 secondary roads and above, thereby transitioning from “manual cash collection” to “electronic billing” and from “commercial fees” to “administrative and public‑service charges.”

Electronic parking payment devices installed along the roadside on Xuanwumen West Street in Xicheng District.

Fengtai District has also established the Fengtai Static Traffic Branch, recruited 350 rural surplus laborers, and formed a team of parking supervisors. These supervisors carry out traffic guidance and issue notices of violations on on‑street parking routes, thereby not only improving the order of static parking but also effectively enhancing public awareness of relevant policies and regulations.

According to reports, the Dongcheng, Xicheng, and Tongzhou districts have already been implementing on-street electronic parking fees for six months. Starting July 1, with the exception of Fengtai, Haidian, Chaoyang, and Shijingshan will also fully roll out electronic road‑side parking fee collection.

To address the parking challenges in older residential neighborhoods, the Fengtai and Xicheng districts have increased parking capacity by implementing measures such as area reallocation, maximizing underutilized spaces, and advancing the construction of multi‑level parking facilities.

Drawing on pilot projects for the renovation of older residential neighborhoods and local conditions, Fengtai District has refined its design plans. Through measures such as reconfiguring areas to demolish illegal structures, replanning green spaces, and implementing one‑way parking within communities, the district has added approximately 7,700 parking spaces in residential areas since 2018. In addition, Fengtai District has encouraged private investment in multi‑storey parking facilities; existing projects—including the Shoujingmao No. 1 Courtyard in Xincun Subdistrict and the Ziranmei Building in Dahongmen Subdistrict—have already provided an additional 764 parking spaces. This year, planned developments such as the Xifu Yiyuan Community in Lugouqiao Township, the Majiabao Jiayuan Yi Li Community, and a multi‑storey parking facility at the North Plaza of Beijing South Railway Station are expected to add roughly 800 more parking spaces.

In light of existing challenges and residents’ feedback, the Xicheng District Urban Management Commission has designated “three‑in‑one certification” as a requirement for residential parking authorization. It organized residents to register, conducted rigorous reviews and verifications, and ultimately finalized a list of over 7,000 eligible applicants.

Due to its early construction and inadequate supporting infrastructure, the Xuanxi Community in Guangnei Subdistrict has long been plagued by issues such as difficulty finding parking and illegal parking. Since the official launch of the Changchun East Street Parking Self‑Governance Project in January 2019, Guangnei Subdistrict has systematically designated 134 parking spaces, effectively easing the parking burden on local residents. During the survey, residents of the Xuanxi Community remarked, “Before, there was nowhere to park; now there’s both space and safety.”

The research team conducted a survey in Xuanxi Community to assess the parking situation in the residential area.

Tonglingge Road experiences heavy traffic during morning and evening rush hours, and is lined with numerous “seven‑small” shops that have illegally breached walls to create openings. Illegal parking is a persistent problem, posing significant challenges for local residents seeking parking. In 2017, after sealing off unauthorized wall‑breaching and cracking down on non‑compliant storefronts, the subdistrict office built Xicheng District’s first multi‑level parking garage, offering 55 parking spaces. Nearby communities such as Wenjia Street, Shoushuihe, and Shoupa can obtain parking permits by meeting the “three‑in‑one” requirements; permitted parking hours are from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m., with a monthly fee of 300 yuan. During off‑peak periods, the facility is also available to nearby white‑collar workers.

A multi-story parking garage located on Tonglingge Road.

The Fengtai and Xicheng districts have marked designated parking zones for shared bicycles and installed electronic fencing at key transportation hubs and other areas prone to bicycle congestion, enabling monitoring of nearby bike‑parking conditions.

At Exit H of Xuanwumen Metro Station, shared bikes—including Mobike and Didi’s Blue Bikes—are neatly lined up on both sides of the road. According to the district urban management commission, Bluetooth‑based electronic fences can promptly transmit data on bikes within designated zones. Local subdistrict offices and bike‑sharing companies use a centralized platform to monitor fleet sizes, adjust deployment by increasing or reducing the number of bikes in circulation, and relocate vehicles from areas where parking exceeds authorized limits.

The law enforcement inspection team conducted an on-site survey of the parking order for shared bicycles.

With regard to the regulation of electric bicycles, the Fengtai and Xicheng districts have launched a special campaign to address illegal sales, stepping up enforcement against violations such as unlicensed operations and unauthorized sales.

On the front end of regulatory oversight, efforts to enforce the new national standard have been stepped up, with inspections conducted at existing electric bicycle retailers to ensure that all vehicles on sale comply with the standard. At the same time, electronic information display screens have been installed in retail outlets to remind consumers to make informed purchasing decisions.

Three- and four-wheeled electric vehicles require the establishment of corresponding access standards.

Following the conclusion of the field investigation, the Municipal People’s Congress inspection team, at a symposium, commended the implementation of the “Two Regulations and One Decision” in the Fengtai and Xicheng districts and put forward recommendations to institutionalize law enforcement, strengthen enforcement efforts, and ensure the effective application of relevant provisions.

The law‑enforcement inspection team recommends that, alongside the installation of electronic parking‑fee collection systems, efforts should also be made to ensure their proper operation at the source and to prevent malicious damage to the sensors. When deploying these systems, comprehensive considerations must be given to both the aesthetic appeal of roadways and cost‑effectiveness, so that the electronic fee‑collection devices can fully fulfill their intended functions. In the two urban districts, the shortage of resident parking spaces has been alleviated to some extent; however, a gap in residential parking persists, and road‑side parking resources still require further integration and optimization. Through public awareness campaigns, citizens’ understanding of the principles—“park in designated spaces, pay for parking, and face penalties for illegal parking”—should be strengthened, while enforcement against unauthorized parking facilities must be intensified, and standardized regulations for parking fees should be established.

The law enforcement inspection team also recommended that the safety of three- and four-wheeled electric vehicles remains inadequate and that corresponding准入 standards should be established.