Necessity or Nuisance: Car Caps in China

Necessity or Nuisance: Car Caps in China
Jun 03, 2009 By Fred Dintenfass , eChinacities.com

Just a decade ago, private cars were a rarity in China. Now, around 500,000 new cars hit the road every year in China, as middle class consumers rush out to purchase automobiles, both to affirm their socio-economic status, and to help navigate China’s enormous cities. Beijing alone has been seeing 1000 new cars on the already crowded roads each and every day. The government has started to step up measures to address the problem: high taxes on cars, forcing car owners in Shanghai to bid for expensive license plates, creating a ‘car free week’ in 2007, and during the Beijing Olympics, limiting cars on the road by using license plate restrictions to cut the days car owners could drive in half. The license plate restrictions have been extended and are still popular, especially with non car owners. Still, 54% of car owners support the measure and almost 94% of Beijingers would like to see the public transportation system expanded. We asked your opinion on the issue:

Traffic jam in Beijing

Should China put a cap on the number of new cars on the road?

'Should' is such a weird question, there’s a lot of things they should do. If they did put a cap on it how would they enforce it, would people give up their cars, stop driving to work, not a chance. It’s kind of an irrelevant question if you haven’t addressed the magnitude of other problems.
A / USA

It seems the government has already done something like this. In Shanghai when you buy a car you have to get a license plate at an auction and it is very expensive forty or fifty thousand yuan! Everyone is moving out to the suburbs and so they need cars to get to work. Shanghai is a very big city. So the government can make limits but people won’t pay attention. Now, buying a car is also about face. If you neighbor has one you need to have one, even if you don’t really want one; soon everyone in the neighborhood has a car. But now because of the financial crisis things are changing. My friend bought a license plate at an auction last year for 48,000 RMB. Now license plates cost only half that. Same thing with taxes, the government has lowered the taxes on new cars to people will consume more. No matter what limits the government sets people will find a way around them.
G / China

Gut reaction is they shouldn’t have control there, but I only see good coming out of them doing it, so it’s hard. The situation is the situation. If I was told I couldn’t drive my car I would be furious. I couldn’t do anything, couldn’t go home to visit my parents, couldn’t go to work.
L / USA

Why should it be Chinese people limited? US buys most of the cars in the world and for years has used most of the oil. US people use 25 times more carbon per person than one Chinese. Another case of foreigners blaming China for a problem they created and continue to make. Few Chinese buy or drive SUV or Hummer cars.
L / China

Should China put a cap on number of new cars on the road? Yes, but this kind of cap shouldn't be limited to China.
J / USA

Certainly it would be much better for the environment if cars were limited, and also for cities too. Cities are all centered around giant roads now and they make cities ugly and also more dangerous. Especially for old people and children who can’t make it quickly across 8 lanes of traffic. Cars also separate people into their own little worlds and that may also have a psychological effect.
Z / China

No, I think we should let people be as stupid as they can be with automobiles, all over the world. We can make the world one big parking lot as we watch our children get asthma.
R / USA

 
Yes for the environment and pollution – the average life of a Chinese traffic cop is 44 years – but no because of the economy. Chinese people are buying cars like crazy and if that eases then many economies, including many western and other companies from America to Japan will be affected. There will be many more unemployed and that will have a disastrous effect. Unfortunately, we need Chinese to keep on consuming.
J / UK

It would be very difficult and expensive to enforce a cap and probably not worth the resource and expense. During the Olympics when you could only drive on some days due to your license plate number many people got a second license plate or drove two different cars.
T / China

Perspectives seeks to promote dialogue and cross-cultural understanding by featuring Chinese and foreign responses to a single question. Email us to be added to our weekly question mailing list or to suggest questions of your own and feel free to add your perspective in the comments section below.

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