China’s Tianjin to begin restricting car population

China’s northern Tianjin municipality will begin restricting its car population next year to control traffic congestion and air pollution, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Only 100,000 new license plates will be issued in Tianjin next year, of which 60,000 will be distributed by lottery and the rest auctioned off for a minimum bid of ¥10,000 (RM5410) each, according to Xinhua. Government departments will be banned from buying new official cars and all proceeds from the auctions will go to support public transportation, Xinhua reported, citing a plan approved by the Tianjin government.

The city of 14 million, located about 111 kilometres (69 miles) from Beijing, follows the capital, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Guiyang in imposing vehicle quotas. Chinese auto production and sales may slow next year as more cities in China impose quotas on vehicles to control worsening air pollution and traffic jams, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said this month.

In Tianjin, congestion has intensified so much that average travel speeds in the city centre have slowed 18 per cent compared with 2000, Xinhua said. Carmakers such as Toyota Motor Corp. have factories in Tianjin.

China, the world’s biggest carbon emitter, is home to some of the world’s most polluted cities, with smog levels that can surpass World Health Organization safety thresholds by almost 40 times. Outdoor air pollution was found to cause lung cancer and linked to an increased risk of bladder cancer, a WHO agency said this week, rating it as a carcinogen for the first time.

Beijing in 2010 announced a cap of 240,000 new vehicles a year after the city was voted as having the world’s most painful commute in a global poll by International Business Machines Corp. The Chinese capital will further tighten the annual quota to 150,000 in 2014, according to a Beijing Daily report posted on the municipal government’s website.

Shanghai has been auctioning license plates since 1986, with winning bids hitting a record ¥90,000 this year. The city is studying whether to impose a traffic congestion charge as part of a broader plan to fight pollution.

themalaymailonline.com

12 Comments on "China’s Tianjin to begin restricting car population"

robertinget on Thu, 2nd Jan 2014 2:03 pm 



An invitation to corruption for sure, but needed nevertheless.

China and everyone else should be concentrating electrification of public and private transportation. China already has more underground (subway)
service than US with hundreds more miles under construction.

Centralized fossil fuel burning can slowly be replaced with alternatives.

Internal combustion engines (ICE) in the past, most often were done at 100,000 miles or before.
Today, twenty years or longer is the norm. Electric motors OTOH are cheaper to replace and maintain.

An entire engine swapping business exists across Asia even in the US because Japanese laws forcing owners
to replace engines at 30,000 miles.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=1227046

Arthur on Thu, 2nd Jan 2014 2:48 pm 



Cities of 14 million should have a metro only and a prohibition for cars to enter the city as well no drivers licence for under 2x year olds, with x increasing with one tick every 2 years.

Again, this is how a very vibrant city like Amsterdam of 1 million looked like 100 years ago, with hardly cars, just trams, bicycles, pedestrians, horses:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a09_wVSBkyw

Dave Thompson on Thu, 2nd Jan 2014 2:57 pm 



Unlimited growth may have hit the brick wall of energy limits.

Kenx300 on Thu, 2nd Jan 2014 3:04 pm 



Buy a bicycle or use mass transit……

Cities need to become more people centered and less auto centered.

Bike paths need to connect work, schools, homes and businesses. Apartments and businesses need to provide more places for people to lock and store their bicycles.

We need more walkable, bike able cities with safe, clean mass transit options.

There once was a time when major cities all had trolleys running thru the center of the city. It is time to bring the trolley back.

DC on Thu, 2nd Jan 2014 3:29 pm 



‘Only’ 100,000 new rolling trash cans. That should fix everything. All the pollution from existing ones? Grandfathered in. How many new trash cans in ten years times? Well, ‘only’ one million, provided of course they actually stick to the 100k level.

rockman on Thu, 2nd Jan 2014 4:27 pm 



I don’t think Americans can really conceive of how bad Chinese traffic can be. I spent a couple of weeks in a relatively small city in 2000 when I adopted my daughter. Lots of downtime so I wandered the streets as best crappy Chinese would allow me. A big difference between them and us was almost all their traffic was commercial. And not big trucks: everything from small cars, scooters and hand pulled carts. China is truly the land of small business. I can’t tell how much their vehicle growth is ‘pleasure’ driving and how much is business but given the cost and congestion I doubt much of the gain is based upon ‘happy motoring’. As the Chinese became more affluent the demand for business transport boomed. Which is why I suspect increased public transport won’t help as much as it would in an American city. They don’t have the big suburban to downtown dynamic Houston has for example. A small business owner isn’t going to deliver his wares via the subway.

mike on Thu, 2nd Jan 2014 10:12 pm 



This system of rationing out cars in urban areas is surely possible only in centrally planned economies(euphemism for dictatorships/communists). In “free” societies, we have the right to own and drive our one tonne of mechanical metal carbon farters. Any government that tries to limit our rights to hurtle around town and clog up city streets will get voted out of office. Some years ago, the then Labour (socialist) mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, introduced an inner city zone that takes up perhaps 5% of the total area of Greater London, and even less of the whole sprawl; entry into this zone in daylight hours by car is charged, the bills going out using a plate recognitioon system. The plan was to extend this zone bit by bit into neighbouring districts, but then Boris Johnson the Conservative got into power. He has kept the congestion charge zone, but no way will he extend it. The electorate will not allow it. Boris valuees the car driving vote.

Various British and Continental cities have anti car traffic schemes, co-ordinated with advanced public transportation systems of metros, trams, and buses, all resulting in varying degrees of success. Dutch and Danish cities are particularly pedestrian andf cycle friendly. But visits to Cpenhagen and the Netherlands have not convinced me that the problem of city car traffic have been anywhere near solved. If anything, my instinct suggests that there results only an increased perception that cities are places to get away from, and that the “countryside” i.e. suburban sprawl is the magnet for city escapees. Perhaps only ever higher fuel prices can end this counter urban movement.

Norm on Fri, 3rd Jan 2014 12:49 am 



Kinda tragic, they are not doing more small simple electric cars. Would help a lot, brain-dead not doing that. Although even electric cars can cause a traffic jam.

Makati1 on Fri, 3rd Jan 2014 5:35 am 



Mike, I think that car rationing is already underway in the US. How many people can afford a car if they are unemployed or under employed? As the cost of necessities rise and their incomes continue to shrink, cars will become luxuries as they once were. Two car garages will become rental apartments or storage facilities. A car costs about a day’s wages to buy, maintain, fuel, insure, and license. So, the Chinese do it by government order. The West does it by increasing poverty.

Makati1 on Fri, 3rd Jan 2014 5:37 am 



Ooops! … A car cost’ a day wages, PER WEEK, or 1/5 of an average person’s income …

Arthur on Fri, 3rd Jan 2014 11:29 am 



Car usage in the US is already ‘over the top’, if you understand what I mean and in Greece it is outright crashing.

USA:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/green-transportation/car-usage-united-states.aspx

Greece:

huffingtonpost . com/2012/08/08/greece-debt-crisis-bikes-cars_n_1755225.html

In two years time the number of cars on Greek roads has declined by 40% or more (80%?):

The high cost of road tax, fuel and repairs is forcing Greeks to ditch their cars in huge numbers. According to the government’s statistics office, the number of cars on Greek roads declined by more than 40 percent in each of the last two years.

Bicycle business is booming in Greece.

Kenz300 on Sat, 4th Jan 2014 5:18 pm 



Walking, bicycles and mass transit need to become a higher priority for cities than automobiles.

Bicycles are an inexpensive way to travel and should be encouraged and supported by cities.