Shenzhen to bump up parking prices

Parking fees will be increased up to 285 yuan ($46) a day in the Shenzhen special economic zone, Guangdong province, in the following years.

The Shenzhen transport commission announced on Tuesday a new system on collecting parking fees, which triples current parking costs, according to Southern Metropolis Daily.

A public hearing for the new parking charge system will take place on Dec 28, the newspaper said.

Under the new system, drivers will be charged 5 yuan for the first half hour when they park their vehicles along local streets and roads in downtown areas. For each additional half hour, 10 yuan will be charged.

Parking hours are from 7:30 am to 10 pm.

Shenzhen, which borders the Hong Kong special administrative region, will have the most expensive parking fees of any other city on the Chinese mainland.

The increased parking charge aims to ease the city's heavy traffic jams.

Shenzhen now has the mainland's highest vehicle density.

More than 1.8 million vehicles had been registered in the city by the end of last year, approaching the official limit. But there are actually more than 2 million vehicles, in addition to cars from outside the city, according to the Shenzhen traffic authority.