China to limit new car license plates to ease Beijing's traffic

China to limit new car license plates to ease Beijing's traffic

2010-12-24 06:01:27 GMT+7 (ICT)

BEIJING, CHINA (BNO NEWS) -- Beijing's municipal government on Thursday announced that it will implement harsh measures such as limiting new car license plates to ease traffic congestion in the most populated city in the world.

According to the state-run Xinhua news agency, the number of new license plates will be limited to 240,000 for the upcoming year. The new regulation is part of a traffic control package plan which was labeled as the toughest traffic-related measure in history.

Starting on Friday, car buyers will be required to draw lots before acquiring a license plate. The 240,000 plates will be allocated to private buyers, commercial use, and government vehicles. Eighty-eight percent of the license plates (about 17,600) will be for private vehicles.

On the other hand, only 2 percent will be for vehicles of commercial usage while the remaining ten percent was allocated for government and company institutions, according to Zhou Zhengyu, deputy secretary-general of Beijing municipality.

The new measure will apply to all resident of the capital city, including permanent residents and those who does not have resident status but have paid income taxes or social security contributions for the last five years.

Beijing has a total of over 4.7 million vehicles. This year, over 700,000 cars were purchased in the city, according to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport. In the city, a citizen is allowed to own only one car.

Under the new regulation, drivers are allowed to replace their old vehicles and receive a new car plate without having to enter the lot-drawing. The traffic control package plan will also ban cars registered outside Beijing from circulating the 5th Ring Road during rush hours.

The city will also implement again an odd-even traffic control measure implemented during the 2008 Olympic Games. Such measure allows driving cars on alternate days during rush hours in some congested roads using an odd-even license plate number system.

The new traffic program is expected to significantly impact the car industry sales. During the last weeks, Beijing residents have been buying cars ahead of the implementation of the measure. In the last week, more than 30,000 vehicles were sold.

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