THE city is considering lowering fees for underused roadside parking spaces, in what would be another change to Shenzhen’s controversial new parking system.

    The remote areas of Longgang and Bao’an districts would likely see the reduced fees.

    At a Wednesday activity that invited residents to experience roadside parking, Ou Keji, deputy chief with the transport center, said roads in the remote areas of Longgang and Bao’an districts were underused and drivers have been parking their vehicles without paying fees.

    The transport center is getting feedback from residents through “experience activities” and may change parking rules based on the feedback.

    A resident, surnamed Shen, who participated in Wednesday’s “experience activity,” said drivers should be warned by text messages before facing a 500-yuan (US$81) parking fine.

    Currently, drivers need to finish paying via a phone app within 10 minutes. If they fail to pay in 10 minutes, they will be fined 500 yuan.

    The roadside-parking app now has more than 655,000 users and illegal parking is decreasing, according to Ou.

    Ou also said the center will refund roadside parking fees for drivers of new- energy vehicles as they enjoy up to one hour of free roadside parking each day under a new rule.

    The transport center will charge new-energy car drivers first and refund them later, because it is hard for parking officers to tell new-energy vehicles from fuel-powered vehicles.

    The center is working with police to create a special registration for new-energy vehicles. Under the new registration system, new-energy vehicles would have different license plates than fuel-powered vehicles.

    According to a regulation issued by the city government in January, new -energy vehicles can park for free for one hour each day. That means the owner of a new-energy car can save up to 15 yuan a day on roadside parking.

    (Han Ximin)