CAR owners in Shenzhen may enjoy free roadside parking from 8 p.m. instead of 9 p.m. as the city’s transportation commission is studying the feasibility of extending the free parking hours at night.

    The commission is also considering allowing car owners to park on roadsides for 10 minutes free of charge. Currently car owners have to pay for roadside parking after five minutes.

    In the week since Shenzhen Road Traffic Center officially started collecting roadside parking fees, 8,712 drivers were punished for illegal parking. The use of roadside parking places is far below the target at 28.33 percent.

    For example, most of the roadside parking places on Caitian Road and Jingtian Road, which used to be occupied with cars, became vacant last week after the fee collection rule was implemented.

    “The traffic on Shangbao East Road was often jammed because of cars parking on both sides of the road, but the traffic is now greatly improved,” said a resident surnamed Wang, who lives by the road in Jingtian, Futian District.

    “The parking fee is very high. I have to pay 5 yuan (US$0.81) for the first 30 minutes and then an additional 10 yuan for every 30 minutes. It costs me 15 yuan an hour. But in a parking lot nearby, it costs me 7 yuan for the first hour,” said another resident, surnamed Zhong, suggesting that authorities lower roadside parking fees.

    A resident surnamed Zhang in Lianhuaercun housing estate proposed changing the nighttime free parking period from 9 p.m. - 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. - 7:30 a.m., so as to solve the parking problem at the housing estate. Some drivers criticized the five-minute free parking grace period as too short for drivers to park temporarily.

    “It is unfair for a driver to pay 5 yuan to park to use a bathroom,” said a resident identified as Peng, suggesting the grace period should be extended to 15 minutes.

    As of yesterday, 372,910 drivers had registered for roadside parking payment accounts.

    (Han Ximin)