[sustran] Fwd: beijing shanghai vehicle policy contrast

[Barter, Paul]

Dear sustran-discussers, 
Interesting to see the contrast in policies towards private vehicles in
Shanghai and Beijing. This will be a useful comparison to watch closely.
I believe the consequences will be significant and I suspect that
Shanghai will emerge with many long-term benefits from its early
restraint of cars. 
Paul

>From China's People's Daily
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200308/06/eng20030806_121763.shtml

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, August 06, 2003 

Beijingers Go Car Crazy 
The number of vehicles in Beijing surpassed 2 million on Monday, raising
new questions about the capital city's transportation system.  

 
The number of vehicles in Beijing surpassed 2 million on Monday, raising
new questions about the capital city's transportation system. 

But Shanghai has kept vehicle numbers below 1.4 million through strict
controls over private cars. 

It took Beijing only six years to go from having 1 million motor
vehicles to 2 million, according to Zhang Jingli, vice-director of the
Beijing Municipal Traffic Management Bureau. 

"Out of last year's increase of 276,000 motor vehicles, 90 per cent are
private cars. The percentage is 30 points higher than the national
figure,'' Zhang said. 

The Beijing authorities have expressed concern at the continued increase
in the number of motor vehicles. 

Zhang predicted that there could be 3.5 million cars in Beijing by 2008
if the current rate of increase continues. 

"This will adversely affect the city's transport. Traffic jams will even
get worse,'' he said. 

The municipal government will adopt various measures to solve the
problems of a lack of parking space and traffic jams by charging vehicle
owners higher fees, Zhang said. 

For example, parking fees were raised last year for vehicles in the city
centre. 

Zhang also said strict measures will be adopted to reduce the air
pollution caused by the large number of vehicles. 

A total of 300,000 coaches will be banned from driving on three major
streets -- Chang'an, Ping'an and Guang'an avenues -- after next month
due to the large amount of gas they emit. 

By contrast, the traffic authority in Shanghai -- China's largest city
-- issues only 2,000 to 3,000 licence plates per month through public
auction, each plate costing more than 20,000 yuan (US$2,420). 

Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng said last month that the city will gradually
loosen restrictions on the purchase of private vehicles in the long run
but further restrict the use of saloon cars in central areas. 

To relieve the traffic pressure, Shanghai is encouraging the development
of public transport, to which Beijing has also given priority. 

Shanghai has, a population of more than 16 million, with around 1.4
million vehicles. The number of vehicles is expected to top 1.5 million
by the end of 2005, according to the Shanghai Planning and Development
Commission. 

Some experts previously predicted that transport in Beijing would come
to a complete standstill once the city had 2 million vehicles. 

The Beijing authorities have attributed the current "normal'' traffic
conditions to the fast development of road construction and the
implementation of the so-called intelligent transport systems (ITS). 

The systems are expected to take shape in Beijing by 2007 and enhance
efficiency. 

ITS facilities already in use in Beijing include the road-traffic
monitoring and management system, the intelligent control headquarters
for public transport and the intelligent operational control system for
taxis, according to sources with the Beijing Transport Development
Research Centre. (chinadaily) 

 
Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved

Forwarded for the purposes of education and research.