Multi‑storey Parking | Construction of Multi‑Storey Car Parks at Hospitals Expected to Accelerate

At present, major hospitals in Dongguan generally face severe parking shortages, necessitating an increase in parking spaces. In recent years, the parking crisis at these hospitals has continued to worsen. Currently, the Wanjiang Branch of Dongguan People’s Hospital sees an average daily vehicle traffic volume that has reached… With 13,000 vehicles, nearly 10 cars vie for a single parking space; at the Puji Campus, daily vehicle traffic exceeds 3,000, with 19 cars competing for one spot; and at the Dongguan Municipal Maternal and Child Health Hospital, average daily traffic approaches 5,000, yet only one parking space is available for every seven vehicles.

To address the challenge of parking shortages at hospitals, relevant authorities in Dongguan have implemented a range of measures and adopted a multi‑pronged approach; the latest… The “major initiative” is to support the construction of multi‑storey parking garages at hospitals. According to reports, the Dongguan Municipal Government Office has recently drafted relevant measures, proposing to “streamline the approval procedures for parking facility project applications,” which could accelerate the development of hospital parking facilities.

Current situation: In some hospitals, the parking supply-to-demand ratio has already approached 1:19

As the number of vehicles in Dongguan continues to grow, the difficulty of finding parking at the city’s major hospitals has become increasingly acute. Residents visiting hospitals such as Dongguan People’s Hospital, Dongguan Maternal and Child Health Hospital, and Donghua Hospital often struggle to locate a parking space.

At around 9 a.m. on May 20, the reporter drove to the Wanjiang Campus of Dongguan People’s Hospital. Although security guards were stationed at every intersection to direct traffic, vehicles searching for parking were everywhere. After circling for nearly half an hour, the reporter was finally able to snag a spot just as a car happened to pull away. Meanwhile, right at the hospital entrance, many drivers continued to park along the roadside despite knowing it was against the rules.

This is true of major hospitals in urban areas, and many township and community hospitals are no different. For example, Dalang Hospital, due to severe parking shortages, frequently causes traffic congestion both inside the hospital and in its surrounding areas, even… All 120 ambulance access routes are blocked.

How difficult is it to find parking? By examining the number of parking spaces open to the public and the daily volume of vehicles entering and exiting the hospital, one can calculate the parking supply‑demand ratio. Our reporter found that in areas where this ratio is particularly high, it has already approached… 1:19, meaning there’s only one parking space for every 19 vehicles; even slightly smaller developments are close to a ratio of 1:7.

As the busiest hospital in Dongguan, the Wanjiang Branch of Dongguan People’s Hospital sees an average daily volume of over… emergency and outpatient visits. With 5,000 patient visits and an average daily inpatient count of 1,857, the hospital campus offers 1,322 external parking spaces, yet its daily vehicle traffic reaches 13,000. Meanwhile, the Puji campus sees an average of 2,049 outpatient visits per day, with 160 external parking spaces, while its internal daily vehicle traffic exceeds 3,000.

The Dongguan Municipal Maternal and Child Health Hospital sees approximately… outpatients per day. With 3,500 patient visits daily, the hospital currently sees around 4,500 vehicles each day, yet it has only about 700 parking spaces available to the public. At Dalang Hospital, there are roughly 150 surface parking spots and 200 underground spaces, while the number of private vehicles entering the hospital ranges from 1,200 to 1,600 per day—making finding a parking spot entirely a matter of luck.

Measures: Several hospitals plan to build multi-story parking garages to alleviate parking shortages.

To alleviate the parking shortage, hospitals are actively exploring various solutions. At the Wanjiang Branch of Dongguan People’s Hospital, measures such as increasing parking spaces through road realignment, implementing one-way traffic on the inner and outer ring roads, and intensifying patrols to regulate parking秩序 have been adopted; however, the campus still experiences chaotic vehicle parking, Issues such as obstruction of 120 emergency response lanes and fire access routes.

At present, the Wanjiang campus is preparing to renovate its parking lot and implement a fully enclosed, fee‑based parking management system. Meanwhile, the hospital plans to coordinate with neighboring towns and subdistricts to lease a riverside plot of land, converting it into a temporary parking area for patients. It also intends to engage a third‑party provider to offer valet‑parking services, thereby optimizing the utilization of surrounding parking facilities. In addition, the hospital is considering relocating some staff vehicles to off‑site parking, which would free up nearly… 200 parking spaces.

Dongguan Municipal Maternal and Child Health Hospital has long implemented one-way traffic flow and paid parking. Meanwhile, Dalang Hospital encourages staff to carpool to work, aiming to free up parking spaces, while also stepping up efforts to clear out unused spots. The issue of “zombie vehicles” parked on public roads. Vehicles that have been left at the hospital for extended periods are being inventoried, owners are notified by phone, and the traffic police are contacted to take appropriate action.

In addition, constructing new parking garages and multi‑storey automated parking facilities has become an important measure for many hospitals to address parking shortages. Previously, Chang’an Hospital in Dongguan and the Fifth People’s Hospital of Dongguan had both built multi‑storey parking structures, while the Dongguan Maternal and Child Health Hospital conducted a small‑scale pilot project at the entrance to its cafeteria.

At present, numerous hospitals—including Dongguan People’s Hospital, Dongguan Maternal and Child Health Care Institute, and Dalang Hospital—have already developed plans for multi‑storey parking garages. At the Wanjiang Campus of Dongguan People’s Hospital, the main structure of the proposed multi‑storey garage is designed to provide parking spaces for compact cars on floors one through six, capable of accommodating… 783 parking spaces; by leasing adjacent sites and constructing a multi‑level parking structure, approximately 700 additional parking spaces will be provided. The proposed multi‑level parking garage at Dongguan Municipal Maternal and Child Health Hospital is designed to accommodate 600 vehicles.

Dalong Hospital plans to build an intelligent parking garage, with a planned capacity of… The facility comprises nine parking bays with a total of 816 spaces, which can largely meet the parking needs of patients and staff. The Dalang Town Government has approved the construction of an intelligent parking garage, to be fully funded by the town’s fiscal budget.

The project approval process will be streamlined. Promote the construction of parking garages.

However, constructing multi‑storey parking garages is no easy task. The head of Dalang Hospital admitted that, “Due to the lack of regulatory guidelines for such projects in Dongguan City, relevant authorities have encountered numerous disputes during the approval process.” Many hospitals’ parking‑garage projects have faced a host of intractable challenges throughout the project‑approval, construction‑permit‑application, and tendering stages.

Recently, the Office of the Dongguan Municipal Joint Conference on Comprehensive Transportation convened a coordination meeting to specifically address the construction of multi‑storey parking garages at hospitals. The meeting revealed that, in the past, numerous proposals and motions submitted by deputies to the Municipal People’s Congress and members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference had highlighted the difficulties patients face in finding parking at local hospitals. Moreover, Dongguan municipal leaders have repeatedly issued instructions on this issue, emphasizing the need for prompt research and resolution. In response, the Dongguan Municipal Government Office has recently drafted the “Measures for Strengthening the Planning, Construction, and Management of Parking Facilities,” which stipulates… “It is necessary to streamline the project approval procedures for parking facilities.”

“The office will compile and study successful cases of parking facility management from neighboring cities, refer to the relevant regulations in those areas, clarify the application procedures for parking facilities, and accelerate the construction of parking infrastructure at hospitals, thereby effectively addressing the parking difficulties faced by patients and their families,” said the head of the joint conference office.