"In the past, if I got off work late and wanted to park when I got home, I had to rely on luck and often had to circle the residential compound several times. Now that we have staggered shared parking spaces, I can find a place to park no matter how late I work overtime!" Liu Menglin, who lives in the Aijialidu residential compound in Yubei District, Chongqing, told the reporter happily on April 19.

Liu Menglin's convenient parking is thanks to Chongqing's new staggered shared parking policy. So-called staggered shared parking means mobilizing government agencies, enterprises and institutions as well as qualified social units to share their parking spaces during idle periods for car owners who need parking, thereby achieving parking resource sharing through staggered time arrangements.

According to reports, the central urban area of Chongqing currently has more than 3.5 million parking spaces and more than 2.18 million motor vehicles, with a ratio of motor vehicle ownership to parking spaces of 1:1.6, exceeding the internationally accepted standard ratio of 1:1.2. However, parking difficulties still occur in some places. Zhang Shuyu, deputy director of the Chongqing Urban Management Bureau, said this is mainly due to uneven distribution of parking spaces and insufficient utilization. Staggered sharing is intended to put idle parking spaces into full use and alleviate parking difficulties in key areas such as some older residential compounds, schools, hospitals and business districts.

As one of the 15 key livelihood projects, Chongqing plans to add 45,000 staggered shared parking spaces in 2024. Since March, districts and counties in Chongqing have successively launched staggered shared parking models. At some parking lots, the reporter saw that many parking spaces had been painted with yellow marking lines and numbered, and the words "shared parking space" were very eye-catching.

How can citizens use staggered shared parking? Taking Fengdu County in Chongqing as an example, "the shared parking period is from 8 p.m. every day to 8 a.m. the next day, as well as all day on holidays and weekends. Citizens need to sign an agreement in advance with the provider of the shared parking space, specifying the parking space number, shared time range, parking fees, etc., park their vehicles in the agreed parking space within the shared time, and drive away promptly before the shared time ends," introduced Chen Jiang, chief of the Municipal Management Section of the county's Urban Management Bureau.

In Chongqing High-tech Zone, Liangjiang New Area and Jiulongpo District, because staggered shared parking is still in the pilot stage, free parking is currently adopted.

"Parking spaces in the residential compound are too scarce, and if I park on the roadside I'm afraid of getting a ticket. Now I can park in a shared parking space, and it's even free during the trial operation. It's really convenient," said Mr. Feng, who lives in the Jindu Xiangxie residential compound in Jiulongpo District.

"Staggered shared parking not only solves the problem of residents looking for parking spaces, but also allows idle parking spaces to play their true value and improves the utilization efficiency of existing parking facilities," said Mo Yuanming, a professor at Chongqing Technology and Business University. Staggered sharing is not only an innovation in parking space resource management, but also a manifestation of the spirit of social sharing. He believes that how to ensure the safety of shared parking spaces, reasonably set charging standards, and handle breaches of contract still requires the joint efforts of the government, citizens and all sectors of society.

"'Small parking spaces' concern major livelihoods. To solve parking difficulties, we must not only persist in asking the people about their needs, but also achieve a combination of construction and management and digital empowerment," said the relevant person in charge of the Parking Management Affairs Center of the Chongqing Urban Management Bureau. In the future, staggered shared parking will be further improved to fully tap the potential of existing parking resources.