Fees for Shanghai's airport parking set to soar

A large crowd waits to board trains at the lobby of Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station yesterday at the start of the 40- day Spring Festival travel rush. — Dong Jun

People who park their cars overnight at Shanghai's two airports will be charged more from tomorrow.

The city's airport authority said yesterday that it was raising prices at Hongqiao and Pudong to cut down on the number of vehicles occupying limited spaces at the airports' terminal buildings.

Drivers will be charged 60 yuan (US$9.62) for the first day, 80 yuan for the second day and 110 yuan per day after that, the authority said.

Currently, drivers pay 50 yuan per day. The increase means a near doubling of the cost for a week's parking at either airport — from 350 yuan to 690 yuan.

"The P1 and P2 parking buildings, with only 4,500 parking lots at the Pudong airport's terminal buildings, have been overcrowded with vehicles parking for several days occupying 73 percent of the parking spaces," Yuan Shunzhou, the Pudong airport's general manager, told reporters.

The parking situation becomes worse during holidays, Yuan said.

During Spring Festival last year, more than 8,000 vehicles were parked at the Pudong airport for more than a day, largely exceeding the capacity of its two car parks. Many passengers had to park at temporary parking areas, while drivers who arrived at the airport to pick up passengers often found no place available.

"Some 80 percent of parking spaces are occupied even during non-peak days at the Pudong airport mainly caused by those vehicles parking overnight," Yuan said.

Many local travelers preferred to take their own cars to the airports before taking a flight because the parking fee was often cheaper than taking a taxi, he said.

A downtown resident might have to pay around 400 yuan for a taxi to and from the airport while parking for a week was currently just 350 yuan, Yuan said.

"The airport authority wants to use the price leverage to reallocate the parking resources at both airports," he said.

One taxi driver told Shanghai Daily: "I once spent half an hour to drive across the car park at Pudong T2 but couldn't find a space while the customer booked to be picked up had to wait."

He said he hoped the situation would be largely improved after the fees go up.

Meanwhile, Pudong airport's two new car parks some distance from the terminal buildings will be pressed into service during this year's Spring Festival period.

The P4 and P5 buildings will charge 40 yuan per day with shuttle buses taking passengers to either terminal in a bid to dissuade drivers from parking at the terminals.

Meanwhile, the free parking period at Hongqiao airport's Terminal 1 has also been extended to 20 minutes from the current five minutes, bringing it in line with the other terminal buildings at Pudong and Hongqiao.