Yesterday, near the intersection of Huawei South Road and Panjiayuan East Road, a car was parked on a bicycle lane.
This year, Beijing first proposed optimizing the urban slow traffic system, promoting public bicycle services, and advocating green transportation. However, a Beijing News reporter found during an investigation that many bike lanes are occupied by paid parking spaces, making green travel “nowhere to go.”
Phenomenon 1
Bike lanes marked for parking fees
Location: West section of the road from the intersection of Huawei South Road and Panjiayuan East Road
Yesterday, paid parking spaces were set up on both the north and south sides of this road section. On the south side, two-thirds of the bike lane was taken up by parking spots. The new parking lines were half a meter wider than the motor vehicle lane lines, and no vehicles were parked in the spaces yet.
The space left for the bike lane on the north side was even more “stingy.” Less than 20 meters west of the intersection, the first parking line was less than 0.15 meters away from the motor vehicle lane. In the 20-meter-long parking area, there were five or six cars, and cyclists had to ride on the motor vehicle lane.
“It’s always been marked like this,” said a female parking attendant nearby. The parking spaces were painted by the subdistrict office, and they have been hired to manage them for a year.
“Two weeks ago, there was still a fence separating the south-side bike lane from the motor vehicle lane. After the parking spaces were painted, the fence was gone,” said Cui, a nearby resident. These parking spaces weren’t there before but were newly painted. If the spaces are all filled, cyclists “have no choice but to squeeze in with motor vehicles.”
【Response】
The “Urban Road On-Street Parking Space Setting Standards” stipulate that roadside parking spaces should not be set within intersections or within 50 meters of them, yet the first parking space on the north side of this road section is less than 20 meters from the intersection.
Yesterday, staff from the Comprehensive Governance Office of Panjiayuan Subdistrict Office, to which this area belongs, said they had never painted parking spaces on the roadside; hotline staff from the Chaoyang Municipal Appearance and Sanitation Commission said they could not find any record of these roadside parking spaces.
Municipal Appearance and Sanitation Commission staff said whether the lines were illegal and whether they should be removed should be handled by urban management; staff from the urban management department in Chaoyang District said they would notify their team to check the site and respond to the complainant within 24 hours. The 122 Traffic Alarm Service also said they would respond after verification.
Phenomenon 2
Parking spaces painted horizontally, cars parked vertically
Location: Opposite the Ship Inspection Building on Cangjia Road, Dongcheng District
At around 3 p.m. yesterday, more than 20 paid roadside parking spaces in this area were set up in the same direction along the road. Fifteen of the spaces were occupied, but all the cars were parked perpendicularly—nose out, longitudinally along the roadside. The longitudinal parking extended over half the width of the parking spaces, encroaching on the bike lane. According to the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau website, these are official parking spaces.
Regarding the vertical parking and occupation of the bike lane, the parking attendant said it did take up some of the bike lane, but the road was wide enough not to affect traffic. It was mainly for the convenience of drivers, “you just back in and park.”
Observations showed that parking vertically, perpendicular to the spaces, allowed two cars to fit into one space—that is, double the parking fee was collected for each space.
Moreover, the vertically parked cars were not as “harmless” as the attendant claimed. During the evening rush hour the previous day, when traffic was heavy, four or five cyclists passed through this road, riding on the motor vehicle lane, with some even cycling in the middle of the road, brushing past passing vehicles—a very dangerous situation.
【Response】
Yesterday, the Dongsi Traffic Detachment said such parking violates traffic laws. According to the law, motor vehicles parked in road parking spaces must be aligned in the direction of traffic flow, and the vehicle body must not extend beyond the parking space. Vehicles parked in violation will be fined 200 yuan. They will investigate the illegal parking issue on this road section and strengthen management.