Beijing started charging higher parking fees in non-residential areas on Friday in a bid to reduce the number of cars on the city's overcrowded roads.

Parking fees for roadside car parks are now 10 yuan (about 1.5 U.S. dollars) for the first hour of parking and 15 yuan for each following hour. Underground car parks will now charge 6 yuan per hour, and off-street parking spaces will now cost 8 yuan per hour. These new fees apply for parking spaces inside the third ring road and several neighboring business areas, and will be charged between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m.

Roadside parking fees in other areas inside the fifth ring road have been raised to 6 yuan for the first hour and 9 yuan for each following hour.

Outside the fifth ring road, roadside parking now costs 2 yuan for the first hour and 3 yuan for each following hour, according to the municipal commission of development and reform.

Fees at open and underground parking lots outside the third ring road have also been raised.

Before the hikes, roadside parking fees were 10 yuan per hour in 13 major downtown business and shopping areas and 2 yuan per hour in other areas.

"The number of parkers this morning has been more than halved, as the hourly parking fee has surged from 2 yuan to 8 yuan," said Yang Xiaodong, a toll collector at a parking lot located near the Sogo department store in the downtown area.

Yang said workers from nearby offices complained about the fee increase.

One driver, a man surnamed Yu, is considering switching to public buses.

"I work for at least nine hours a day, so the monthly parking fee will grow to nearly 3,000 yuan. I can't afford it," said Yu, who works in Xuanwumen.

"The new rules will be strictly implemented," Yang said, adding that his employer could be fined up to 500,000 yuan if toll collectors are found to have provided parkers with "discounts" to solicit businesses.

Beijing had accumulated a total of 4.8 million vehicles by the end of last year. The local government rolled out a series of measures to tackle traffic problems, including restricting vehicle purchases by allowing only 240,000 cars to be registered this year via a new lottery system. Beijing registered nearly three times as many cars last year.