[sustran] Re: Beijing to limit issuance of new car plates

[Chris Bradshaw]

This measure is inherently unjust, as it will 'grandfather' those who 
already have plates/insurance.

The impact on car sales shows how drastic the measure is, with a downturn of 
about 70%.

It would be a good time for the government to consider making _all_ new 
permissions to be for shared cars, so that there are no winners and losers, 
only a less free access to a car than was possible before.

And then it should announce that those who already have permission for a 
personal car would have a date in the future to switch to carsharing, and 
give up their plate/insurance permission.

It was not clear what would happen to those who now have permission, but are 
moving out of the city: would they be able to sell their permission on the 
open market, as taxi licenses in much of the world are sold?

China can take leadership in apportioning access to match a city's capacity. 
Running a lottery with many early adopters exempted is not the way to do it.

Chris Bradshaw
Ottawa, Canada
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Faizan Jawed" <phaizan at gmail.com>
To: <sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org>
Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 5:56 AM
Subject: [sustran] Beijing to limit issuance of new car plates


> Beijing to limit issuance of new car plates
> http://www.china.org.cn/china/2010-12/23/content_21604345.htm
>
>
> The Beijing municipal government said Thursday it will limit 2011 issuance
> of new car license plates to 240,000 and implement harsh traffic control
> measures to ease the city's traffic congestion.
>
> Many Chinese netizens called this the "toughest congestion-tackling 
> measure
> in history". From Friday, Beijing car buyers will have to draw lots before
> obtaining a car license plate, said Zhou Zhengyu, deputy secretary-general
> of the Beijing municipal government.
>
> Private car buyers will receive 88 percent, or 17,600 plates per month on
> average, of the city's new license plates. Two percent will be for
> commercial use. The remaining 10 percent will go to company and government
> institutions and others, Zhou said.
>
> Among those qualified include permanent residents, military servicemen,
> foreigners, residents of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and those who have no
> residency status but have paid personal income tax or made social security
> contributions in the city for at least five straight years.
>
> Also, the Beijing municipal government agencies and public institutions 
> will
> not increase the size of their motor vehicle fleets during the next five
> years.
>
> "The number of cars in Beijing has grown quickly as urbanization and
> modernization progresses. This has caused severe congestions in some
> downtown areas, especially at rush hour," he added. "Decisive measures 
> shall
> be taken to control traffic in Beijing. Otherwise, the congestion will 
> only
> get worse."
>
> In 2010, more than 700,000 news cars were sold in Beijing, bringing the
> city's total number of automobiles to more than 4.7 million, statistics 
> from
> the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport (BMCT) show.
>
> According to the city's regulation, a Beijing driver will be permitted to
> own only one car in his or her name.
>
> The regulation says car owners who replace their old vehicles will be
> automatically given new car plates and not have to take part in the
> lot-drawing.
>
> In order to ease traffic congestion, the regulation also adjusted parking
> fee standards in non-residential areas. The new standards will take effect
> from April 1, 2011.
>
> Under the new rules, parking fees inside the 5th Ring Road will be charged
> per 15 minutes rather than per 30 minutes.
>
> Parking fees in the city will be from 2 yuan to 10 yuan per hour.
>
> Cars registered outside of Beijing will be banned from being driven inside
> the 5th Ring Road on work days during the rush hours of 7 to 9 a.m.and 5 
> to
> 8 p.m.
>
> Beijing could also launch an odd-even license plate number system that
> allows driving cars on alternate days in rush hours in some congested 
> areas
> in bad weather, at major events or on important holidays.
>
> The city used the odd-even traffic control measure to ease traffic during
> the 2008 Olympic Games. Currently, motor vehicles are banned from the 
> roads
> inside the 5th Ring Road from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. one work day per week.
>
> Amid others measures, Beijing will also improve city planning, speed the
> development of some outskirt areas and invest more on public transport.
>
> The new measures will be a blow to car dealerships in Beijing, said Su 
> Hui,
> a director of the China Automobile Dealers Association.
>
> "Beijing's 450 4S dealerships will have to restructure. Some of them will 
> be
> forced out of the market, as sales will plunge from about 800,000 annually
> to 240,000," said Su, a former manager at the Yayuncun Automobile Trade
> Market, the biggest car dealership complex in Beijing.
>
> Xiong Chuanlin, deputy secretary general of the Association of Automobile
> Manufacturers, said the restrictions were unfair to potential buyers. The
> city should, rather, strengthen transport management and regulate vehicle
> use to tackle traffic jams, he said.
>
> Rumors about the control measures started circulating earlier this month,
> sparking a car-buying frenzy.
>
> In the past week, car ownership in the city increased by 30,000, BMCT
> figures show.
>
> At 4 p.m. Wednesday, near the end of the work day, about 100 cars were 
> seen
> still lining up at a vehicle registration office in eastern Beijing.
>
> A man surnamed Zhao told Xinhua that he was lucky to get his car 
> registered
> before the new rules come into effect. "Some may have to wait one to two
> years to get a license plate, given the large population in Beijing and 
> the
> lot-drawing process," he said.
>
> Zhao acknowledged that he did not need a private car badly, but he bought
> one ahead of schedule amid worries of possible purchase restrictions.
>
> New car buyer Zhang Lanjie from the northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous
> Region said she arrived at the vehicle registration office at 6 a.m. 
> before
> the release of the new measures.
>
> "There should be some measures, otherwise Beijing will become a 'dead 
> city'
> sooner or later," Zhang said.
>
> "The restrictions, however, shouldn't target non-local residents alone," 
> she
> said. "Many non-local residents who work and live in Beijing also need 
> motor
> vehicles."
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