Limited personal car experience in China: Go to the street by the last number of the license plate

LIVE Chinacities like Shanghai and Guangzhou have also banned motorbikes since the early 2000s, even Beijing has banned motorbikes altogether while the number of personal cars is limited to the number of new registrations.

Personal cars travel by… the last number of the license plate

In order to ensure safety and prevent traffic jams during the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Beijing city government applied the Law of Parity Number Plates to cars traveling on the street. Accordingly, cars with even number plates can go to the street on even days, cars with odd number plates can go on odd days. This regulation was officially applied within the capital Beijing with a period of two months, from July 20, 2008 to September 20, 2008, when the 2008 Paralympic Games ended.

Regulation had some effect during the Olympics. When the restriction ends, the traffic situation here continues to have problems as before. Therefore, the Beijing city government has applied a new measure, classifying cars in traffic according to the last number of the number plate. However, the limit is not as high as it was during the 2008 Olympics, where cars were only banned one day a week.

Specifically, from 2014 up to now, cars circulating in Beijing during rush hour have been restricted from operating under quite complicated regulations: Vehicles with the last numbers 1 and 6 are prohibited from traveling on Mondays. , the last numbers 2 and 7 ban Tuesday, the last numbers 3 and 8 ban Wednesday, the last numbers 4 and 9 ban Thursday, the last numbers 5 and 0 ban Friday. Passenger cars only apply this regulation from 9am to 5pm during the day. Saturday and Sunday, all cars are allowed to go out, no restrictions.

Pollution warning system decides who can go out

In addition to the vehicle restrictions by number plate and date, the Beijing government also built a system of signs, allowing control of air pollution at 4 different levels corresponding to the colors: Green, yellow , orange and red.

On days when air pollution signs are orange, factories, construction sites and construction companies will have to limit or stop working. When a red warning is issued, old cars will be banned from use, newer cars will follow even and odd signs to go out, and schools and kindergartens will also have to close, students learn. remote online.

Such temporary restrictions were put in place in Beijing from December 8 to 10, 2015, when the red alert for hazardous smog and air quality was first issued. It was also provisionally applied again in 2016 when the warning was issued a second time.

In 2017, Beijing banned the circulation of polluting old cars whenever there was an air quality warning in the city or surrounding areas. Violating vehicle owners will have to pay a fine of 100 yuan (US$14.5) for 4 hours of driving on the road. According to Beijing’s Department of Environment, cars subject to the restriction make up only 8% of the cars in the city, but account for 30% of nitrous oxide emissions that cause haze.

Other management measures

Not only restricting circulation, to register personal cars in China is also not easy. Since 2004, traffic management agencies have applied a series of integrated measures to improve traffic congestion such as forcing people who want to buy a new car to participate in a successful dial-in to register a vehicle. .

The reaction of the people of Beijing

The Beijing government’s measures to tackle air pollution were met with public backlash and quickly became the subject of much controversy at the time.

Many users social network Weibo said that the policy of vehicle traffic on even and odd days proved to be unfeasible. This policy only promotes residents who have money and conditions to buy more new cars so that they can have a car every day. Chinese public opinion believes that a referendum must be carefully considered, whether it affects travel, especially people’s property rights.

But despite the concerns of the people at the time, these policies yielded certain results. According to a third-party test, the policies enacted have a huge effect on reducing car emissions: Daily vehicle emissions have been reduced by up to 40%. In addition, according to a professor at Beijing University of Technology, the last numbering policy has reduced the number of cars on Beijing’s public roads to 700,000 after being introduced.