Beijing slashes car quota to 150,000

Beijing is going to slash the annual number of additional cars allowed to hit the roads from 240,000 to 150,000 as of next year, a move aimed at controlling the growth of automobiles as part of the city's efforts to clean up the choking air.

From 2014 to 2017, the city will allow only 600,000 more cars to join the existing motor pool, limiting the total number to 6 million, according to the municipal transport commission.

Among the newly increased 600,000 vehicles, a quota of 170,000 will be given to new-energy cars.

The huge cut in the annual quota is expected to make it even more difficult for citizens planning to buy a car in the near future.

The city started a monthly lottery system in 2011 to decide who is issued a car plate first, since the number of people applying for a car plate was growing faster than the number of plates issued each month.

In the latest lottery on Tuesday, 1.74 million people were in the pool contending for the passenger car quota. Only one out of 94 people was given a car plate number, the lowest odds ever.

According to the new rule, effective on January 1, the monthly lottery will be changed to once every two months.

The current system put all people who failed to win a lottery in the pool for the next draw. However, the new rule stipulates that anyone who failed 25 to 36 times will be given two tickets and those who failed 37 to 48 times will be given three.

Despite the fairer adjustment of the lottery rule, some Beijing dwellers complain that it appears less and less hopeful for them to buy a car any time soon. Some have spent a year, or even two, playing the lottery without luck.