Road space rationing in Beijing
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Road space rationing in Beijing was introduced in the city in a permanent basis after successful results obtained with the policy during the
2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...
. Road space rationing or driving restriction is a transportation demand management regulation aimed to reduce traffic by restricting automobile travel through means such as restriction of cars that could enter common road space based upon the last digits of the license number on certain established days during certain periods in Beijing. The main objective of this restraint policy in Beijing is to reduce the amount of exhaust gas generated by motor vehicles. Also as part of the smog alert system put in place in the city in 2013, once a red alert is issued, a temporary driving restriction is imposed for the duration of the severe pollution event to reduce the city's cars on the streets by half. Temporary restrictions have been implemented in Beijing twice in December 2015, and one more time in December 2016. Many road space rationing regulations, such as the even-odd license plate policy, yellow label car policy, end-number policy and passenger car purchase policy have been established in
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
since the
2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...
. These policies are enforced by traffic enforcement cameras that are able to recognize
license plates A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate (British English), license plate (American English), or licence plate ( Canadian English), is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identificat ...
of automobiles and the police, where the cameras and policemen could recognize license plates of cars that should not be on the road during a certain day, and when found out, the driver of the car would receive certain penalties. Although there have been a significant improvement in the air quality of Beijing and the road space availability, many negative responses of the city's car owners were received.


2008 Beijing Olympics road space rationing

A 40% daily reduction of
vehicle emissions Vehicle emissions control is the study of reducing the emissions produced by motor vehicles, especially internal combustion engines. Types of emissions Emissions of many air pollutants have been shown to have variety of negative effects on public ...
was reported after comparing the data for vehicle emissions before and after the following policy was carried out.


Odd-even license plate policy

On July 20, 2008,
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
implemented a temporary road space rationing policy, odd-even rationing policy, by allowing cars that have an even last number of their license plates to be able to drive on roads in one day while the cars that have an odd last number of their license plates could go on the road the next day in order to improve air quality in the city during the
2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...
. This policy does not affect taxis, public buses, yellow-plate vehicles (vehicles with more than 9 seats inclusive), police vehicles and military vehicles.


Post-Beijing Olympics road space rationing

Due to the success in improving Beijing's air quality and the increased road space availability, the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau issued a series of road space rationing policies to maintain road space availability after the 2008 Beijing Olympics.


End-number license plate policy

On September 28, 2008, the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau issued a 'Notice on the Implementation of Traffic Management Measures', which stated that from October 11, 2008, to January 10, 2009, automobiles in Beijing city (inside the 5th Ring Road) shall cease going on public roads for one day per week by means of grouping by the end number of the license plates of automobiles: from Monday to Friday, automobiles with end numbers 1 or 6, 2 or 7, 3 or 8, 4 or 9, 5 or 0 respectively would cease going on public road space. License plates ending with English letters are categorized as 0. The automobiles that are not allowed on public road space during a
weekday The weekdays and weekend are the complementary parts of the week devoted to labour and rest, respectively. The legal weekdays (British English), or workweek (American English), is the part of the seven-day week devoted to working. In most of th ...
are not allowed to be inside the 5th ring road (inclusive) from 07:00 to 20:00 Beijing time. If the policy is violated, car owners would be fined ¥200. For every three months, the automobiles that could not go on public road space for a certain weekday would rotate.


Yellow-label car policy

Yellow-label cars are automobiles that have yellow-stickers that indicate the vehicles are not qualified for the emission levels ‘国I’ for gasoline cars and '国III' for diesel cars on their windshields. Since January 1, 2009, a yellow-label car restriction policy was imposed, which prohibited the entrance of yellow-cars into the
5th Ring Road Beijing's 5th Ring Road (, China Road Numbering: S50 (Beijing) is a ring road encircling the city about away from the city centre. It takes the form of an expressway and is in length. Being a ring road, it has no natural start or end point, ...
of Beijing.


Pollution red alert

Temporary driving restrictions were imposed in
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
from December 8 to 10, 2015, as part of the smog mitigation measures provided for in Beijing's red alert for hazardous smog, the first such alert issued ever. The smog alert system was put in place in 2013, and a red alert should go into effect if there is a prediction that the air quality index will stay over 200 for more than 72 hours. On the evening of December 7 the index was 253 according to Beijing's authorities. Under a red alert half of the city's cars are ordered off the streets through a temporary alternate-day travel scheme based on the cars license plate numbers. Only cars with even-numbered license plates were allowed on the roads during the first day of the restriction.
Electric car An electric car, battery electric car, or all-electric car is an automobile that is propelled by one or more electric motors, using only energy stored in batteries. Compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, electric cars are quie ...
s are not subject to the driving restriction, as a government incentive to promote the use of cleaner vehicles. According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the combined effect of all the restrictions imposed reduced pollutant emissions in Beijing by 30% during day one of the city's first red alert for smog. Environmentalist from Beijing University of Technology estimated that without the measures, the density of PM2.5 would have risen by 10% during that time period. A second red alert for pollution was issued on December 18, 2015. Temporary driving restrictions were imposed for four days, beginning at 7 a.m. on December 19 and ending on the 23rd at midnight. On 16 December 2016, Beijing authorities declared a five-day pollution “red alert” due to a heavy pollution event. Among other measures, about half the cars were restricted through a temporary alternate-day travel scheme, and older and “dirty” high-emissions vehicles were forbidden to circulate. Public transport services in the city were increased, with about 3,600 buses on duty. The Ministry of Environmental Protection reported that 21 other cities across north and central China had also declared pollution red alerts, including
Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...
,
Shijiazhuang Shijiazhuang (; ; Mandarin: ), formerly known as Shimen and romanized as Shihkiachwang, is the capital and most populous city of China’s North China's Hebei Province. Administratively a prefecture-level city, it is about southwest of Beijin ...
,
Taiyuan Taiyuan (; ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; also known as (), ()) is the capital and largest city of Shanxi Province, People's Republic of China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. ...
, and
Zhengzhou Zhengzhou (; ), also spelt Zheng Zhou and alternatively romanized as Chengchow, is the capital and largest city of Henan Province in the central part of the People's Republic of China. Located in north-central Henan, it is one of the National ...
. The red alert was lifted on 22 December 2016 as the winds cleared pollution away the night before.


Small passenger car purchase policy

Starting from January 1, 2012, Beijing citizens who wish to purchase passenger cars with less than five seats must follow the small passenger car purchase policy to be applicable for purchasing a passenger car. According to the policy, the individual purchaser must not already have a passenger car registered under his or her name, and must fulfill various requirements such as having a
driving license A driver's license is a legal authorization, or the official document confirming such an authorization, for a specific individual to operate one or more types of motorized vehicles—such as motorcycles, cars, trucks, or buses—on a public r ...
and living in Beijing; if the purchaser fulfills all of the requirements, he or she could apply for a
quota Quota may refer to: Economics * Import quota, a trade restriction on the quantity of goods imported into a country * Market Sharing Quota, an economic system used in Canadian agriculture * Milk quota, a quota on milk production in Europe * Indi ...
for a passenger by entering the information pertaining to being applicable at the 'Beijing Small Passenger Car Passenger Quota Management' website, and then wait for the monthly license plate 'lottery' (摇号), where during the 26th of every month the Traffic Management Bureau would take all of the eligible quotas and select a certain amount of them randomly similar to the way of lottery where numbers are drawn randomly. Companies are also applicable to following the policy, but under a different set of rules. Car owners who scrapped their cars could produce evidence and receive a quota without going through the process of license plate 'lottery'.


Effects of the policies

According to a third party test, the policies issued were great in reducing the car emissions: a 40% daily reduction of
vehicle emissions Vehicle emissions control is the study of reducing the emissions produced by motor vehicles, especially internal combustion engines. Types of emissions Emissions of many air pollutants have been shown to have variety of negative effects on public ...
was reported after comparing the data for vehicle emissions before and after the following policy was carried out. Also, according to a professor in the Beijing University of Technology, the End-number License Plate Policy has reduced the number of cars on the public road-space of Beijing by 700,000, but with the rapidly increasing number of cars purchased, the effects of the policy would be negated within three years.


Reception of policies

According to a survey ordered by the officials conducted by a third party institute in 2010, 90.4% of the surveyed people are in favor of end-number license plate policy and would like to continue practicing the policy, but according to a similar survey conducted by
Sina.com Sina Corporation (, "new wave") is a Chinese technology company. Sina operates four major business lines: Sina Weibo, Sina Mobile, Sina Online, and Sinanet. Sina has over 100 million registered users worldwide. Sina was recognized by '' South ...
82.9% of the interviewed opposed the End-number License Plate Policy, with only 14% in favor, having a 76% difference from the official survey.


Other Chinese cities

, in addition to Beijing, another 11 Chinese cities have similar restriction schemes in place. From the print edition.


See also

* Congestion pricing * Low-emission zone *
New energy vehicles in China The stock of new energy vehicles in China is the world's largest, with cumulative sales of 5.5 million units through December 2020. These figures include passenger cars and heavy-duty commercial vehicles such buses and sanitation trucks, and ...
* Odd-even rationing *
Road pricing Road pricing (also road user charges) are direct charges levied for the use of roads, including road tolls, distance or time-based fees, congestion charges and charges designed to discourage the use of certain classes of vehicle, fuel sour ...
*
Road space rationing Road space rationing, also known as alternate-day travel, driving restriction and no-drive days ( es, restricción vehicular; pt, rodízio veicular; french: circulation alternée), is a travel demand management strategy aimed to reduce the ne ...
*
Vehicle registration plates of China Vehicle registration plates in China are mandatory metal or plastic plates attached to motor vehicles in mainland China for official identification purposes. The plates are issued by the local traffic management offices, which are sub-branches ...


References


External links


Beijing Traffic Management Bureau

Beijing Small Passenger Car Quota Management Website

Will a Driving Restriction Policy Reduce Car Trips? - A Case Study of Beijing, China
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140401164828/http://www.rff.org/RFF/Documents/EfD-DP-13-11.pdf , date=2014-04-01 , Environment for Development, September 2013.
Review of Beijing’s Comprehensive Motor Vehicle Emission Control Programs
White Paper,
International Council on Clean Transportation The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) is an independent nonprofit organization incorporated under Section 501(c)(3) of the US tax code. It provides technical and scientific analysis to environmental regulators. It is funded by ...
(ICCT), October 2015. Rationing by country Transport in Beijing Regulation in China