Beijing cuts license lottery quota

Beijing will reduce the number of license plates issued to drivers by 40 percent as part of a scheme released on Monday, in an effort to speed up the development of "new energy" vehicles and reduce emissions.

The scheme, which applies to the 2014-2017 period, will cut the number of permits issued each year from 240,000 to 150,000. Among those issued, license plates granted to vehicles fueled by new energy resources will increase from 20,000 to 60,000.

Beijing adopted a license plate lottery system in January 2011, in a bid to curb the rapid growth of vehicle ownership.

Limiting the number of cars on the capital's streets to fewer than 6 million by 2017 is one aspect of the measures planned by the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, which aim to reduce air pollution in Beijing between 2013 and 2017.

The measures pledge to reduce the density of PM2.5 particles (airborne particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter) by at least 25 percent by 2017, and make the percentage of trips made by public transport reach 52 percent of the total by 2017.

Net users have noted that buying a car is getting more and more difficult, and said that the chance of getting a license plate in the lottery is at a historic low of one in 90, with 1.66 million Beijing residents participating in the lottery in October.

Song Guohua, an expert with the urban transportation research at Beijing Jiaotong University, told the Global Times that reducing supply in this manner would be sure to reduce congestion. He noted that as a city that has a population of more than 20 million people, the number of motor vehicles should be limited given the high density of the people.

The scheme also stated that the city's environment and transportation authorities are currently working on a policy for congestion charges, but that it would not be implemented until 2015.

The congestion charge will be applied to motor vehicles operating within certain areas marked out in the city to reduce the number of cars driving in those areas.

Besides the congestion charges, other measures to increase the cost of using a motor vehicles, such as charging vehicle owners fees for oil pollution, will also be studied.

"Controversies over congestion charges have been sparked, as doubts have been cast over the legal basis and the fairness of the charges, as well as how to distribute the fees," Song said, stressing that policymakers should comprehensively consider the details and use the fees to improve public transportation facilities in the capital.