"Parking fee is more expensive than food", this matter is finally explained

"It costs 2 yuan to buy two steamed buns, and 10 yuan to park on the roadside." This sentence has been a problem that has been entangled in Shanghai for many years. Starting from November 18, it will be changed.

On November 11, Shanghai issued the "Notice on Optimizing the City's Road Parking Charging Policy", and the new policy will be officially implemented on November 18. The "Notice" stipulates that parking on the same road section is free within 15 minutes. Each vehicle can enjoy free parking twice a day on weekdays, and three times a day on weekends, holidays and holidays.

As soon as the news came out, many netizens said: Support, it is more convenient to buy something temporarily and it is very user-friendly.

Image source: Shanghai Release

In fact, since this year, many places across the country have successively announced reductions in parking fees for public parking lots and road parking spaces, and have optimized rules around extending free hours, implementing precise billing, and lowering charging standards.

Guangzhou, Guangdong Province implemented a new version of the "Guangzhou Motor Vehicle Parking Service Fee Management Measures" on September 1: Government-priced and guided-price parking lots, vehicles parked for no more than 15 minutes are exempt from parking fees; the billing unit synchronization is shortened from half an hour to 15 minutes; the maximum single-time charge for road parking in key areas is reduced from 328 yuan to 200 yuan, a drop of nearly 40%.

The new measures implemented in Chengdu, Sichuan on October 1st are more direct, including "parking for less than fifteen minutes" as one of the situations where parking fees are not allowed - not "preferential" but "prohibited".

The new method implemented in Hunan this year stipulates that the charging method for motor vehicle parking services can be based on the parking conditions and needs, including time-based, time-based, monthly or annual charging.

Some social public parking lots in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, have begun to implement precise billing by the minute. Less than 1 minute is charged by 1 minute. Parking is free for 15 minutes and has a maximum charge of 6 hours in a single day. Some vegetable markets and medical institutions have also set up 20-minute green free parking spaces.

Chongqing, Xi'an, Shaanxi and other places have set up special berths for free temporary parking for 15-30 minutes, relying on physical markings to avoid malicious space occupation.

Nanjing, Jiangsu Province has already implemented "free parking within 15 minutes" and extended the free time for disabled vehicles and new energy vehicles.

Many places have unanimously made the "scale" of parking fees more detailed, reflecting changes in urban governance ideas.

Buying breakfast along the street, picking up children at the school gate, picking up groceries at a store, or dropping off someone on the way, these often only require a few minutes of parking. In the past, they were the most overlooked scenes in the parking fee system. The Shanghai Transportation Department has calculated that temporary parking on roads of less than 15 minutes twice a day can basically meet about 90% of the short-term parking needs of ordinary vehicles. Starting from these most trivial daily inconveniences, the charging rules are adjusted to respond to the real travel experience of car owners. The warmth of urban governance is often hidden in these tiny details that are closely related to ordinary people.

But "thin" does not mean "loose". Shanghai is limited to 2 to 3 trips, Chengdu and Guangzhou are free for a single trip, and Hangzhou charges by the minute plus a 6-hour cap. It seems that the tightness is different, but in fact it is all due to the local berth supply and road network pressure. If there are no boundaries for free, the dividends will be taken up by a few people, and those who really need to stop will not be able to stop. This is not about who is more generous, but the precision of city-specific policies.

There is a detail worth paying attention to: Shanghai stipulates that if the vehicle exceeds 15 minutes, it will be charged from the moment the vehicle enters, which means that "15 minutes" is a hard line, not a buffer zone that can be used casually; Changsha limits the free time to 30 minutes, and makes it clear that if the free time exceeds, it will be calculated from the moment of "exceeding". Both are free for a limited time. In Shanghai, it is calculated from the admission fee and the entire time is charged; in Changsha, it is calculated from the overtime limit and only the excess is charged. The difference between one word and another reflects the city’s multiple considerations between rules and goodwill.

What's more important is that the "details" of the policy are still correcting themselves. From the consultation draft released by Shanghai in June to the official document released in November, it can be seen that the number of free services has been increased from two times a day to three times on holidays; the night charging period also gives each district room to flexibly determine based on actual conditions. This also shows that good policies are not made behind closed doors: turning "voices online" into "terms in documents" and turning the masses' "complaints" into a policy "list" is more valuable in itself than charging a few dollars less.

Of course, writing the rules on paper is only the first step. Implementation and effective results are the real benefits to the people. The replacement of signboards, renumbering of berths, whether the free times inquiry channel is smooth, and whether on-site management can keep up, all require continuous tracking and timely calibration in the early stages of implementation. In urban parking management, various places need more careful consideration based on real needs, so that every parking space can be used wisely, and every trip can be less troublesome and more convenient. This is not only the expectation of people's livelihood, but also the due meaning of modernization of urban governance.

The accuracy of urban governance ultimately depends on the citizens’ true feelings. Less money spent at a stop, less queues, and less worry, cumulatively are the most direct evaluation of a city. 15 minutes is not long, but it is enough for one person to buy two steamed buns, pick up a courier, and pick up a child. When the policy is willing to repeatedly deliberate on these 15 minutes, and whether it is clear whether "counting from entry" or "counting from timeout", and whether "counting from 2 times" to "3 times", the precision of urban governance will be truly projected into the people's experience.