Since the beginning of the year, the district eliminated 1,600 roadside parking spaces and cracked down on cars parked illegally on streets, a move that eased traffic jams in the district, according to Wu Runyuan, of the Shanghai Land Transportation Administration.

Before the trial program began, many of the district's parking lots sat empty while illegally parked cars blocked traffic on major roads. To solve that problem, lots were urged to lower prices.

"In the past, people were reluctant to park in those lots because the fees there were more expensive than those for roadside spaces," Wu said.

Wu cited a parking lot in Yingshi Mansion on Tianjin Road as an example.

The mansion's parking lot lowered its fee from 9 yuan (US$1.08) to 5 yuan per hour in January. It reported its monthly revenue rose by 50 percent to 12,000 yuan that month, and hit a record high 26,000 yuan in February, according to Wu.

Solving the city's parking woes has become a key concern for local officials, as the number of vehicles on city streets rose by 470 percent between 1990 and 2001 to reach 1.41 million.

Huangpu District also spent 4 million yuan to set up realtime electronic billboards which will guide drivers to parking lots and tell them how many parking spaces are unoccupied.

(eastday.com April 2, 2003)