2011-03-17 12:59

BEIJING - About 900 electronic parking meters will be put to use in Beijing before April 1, according to the Municipal Commission of Transport.

It said the meters will be used for street parking in crowded downtown areas in China's capital city.

Beijing first introduced parking meters in 1999, when 150 meters were installed. The trial, however, failed as people were unwilling to purchase IC cards, the only payment method the devices accepted.

The commission said Wednesday that the new meters will accept the city's Metro Cards.

The commission said it would continue to promote the use of parking meters so to gradually replace parking attendants as the means of collecting parking fees.

Besides traffic congestions, the lack of parking spaces is another headache in the city with about 5 million vehicles on the road.

The municipal government aims to add 200,000 commercial parking spaces and 50,000 public parking spaces over the next five years.

By the end of 2010, the city had 1.39 million commercial parking spaces and another 778,167 parking spaces in residential areas.