Experts: Vehicle License Lottery Has Limited Results in Curbing Beijing Traffic

Although it has been 100 days since the Beijing municipal government enacted new rules to control heavy traffic, both traffic officials and drivers say further action must be taken to reduce traffic jams in the capital.

Beijing's license plate lottery system has only scratched the surface of the capital's traffic problem as transportation officials try to improve the flow of vehicles, Guo Jifu, Director of the Beijing Traffic Development Research Center, told "People's Daily."

Most citizens said they had not seen any remarkable improvement during the past three months. One driver surnamed Feng said traffic still backed up on the East Third Ring Road with daily jams on the Jingguang and Shuangjing bridges.

Experts say additional measures should be taken to curb the congestion because the government's license plate lottery has not been enough. Zheng Shi, Deputy Chief Engineer of the Beijing Architectural Design Institute, said the pace of new road construction could not keep up with the capital's annual vehicle growth rate of 240,000 cars. Efforts to perfect public transportation and travel conditions were vital for curbing the traffic problems, he said.

Guo also pointed out that uncomfortable public transportation, the city's limited subway network, and long distances between homes, offices and schools accounted for the huge demand for cars.

Emphasizing public transportation priorities during road construction would be an effective way of managing heavy traffic, he said.

Beijing's vehicle license lottery went into effect on January 1, 2011, limiting the number of new cars that could be registered in the city this year to 240,000, one-third of the number registered last year.
 
[source:CRI]