With rapid growth in urbanization and motorization, many Chinese megacities are suffering severe traffic congestion and air pollution. To alleviate this worsening situation, some megacities in China have implemented a license quota system (an intervention) to limit car ownership. In this paper, different license allocation schemes are presented: the lottery system in Beijing, the auction system in Shanghai, and the hybrid system in Guangzhou. The practices in Chinese cities are compared with those in Singapore and Hong Kong, China, which provide representative examples of car ownership interventions throughout the world. In addition, the possible impacts and problems of these three types of allocation methods are analyzed. The result shows that intervention policies play a significant role in controlling rapid motorization in megacities that are experiencing a transformation from low to middle-high income. Even though the restraints cannot resolve traffic congestion, the restraints slow the motorization process and provide longer time for development of high-quality public transit systems. Moreover, both fairness and effectiveness should be taken into account when strong administrative interventions are being implemented. The auction system would result in an unacceptably high bidding price, while the lottery system might stimulate unnecessary demand and provide incentives for people to purchase a car before the lottery. Therefore, the hybrid system of an auction combined with a lottery seems to be a better choice. In addition, complementary policies that restrain car usage and improve door-to-door public transit are strongly recommended in the long run.


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    Title :

    Intervention Policies for Private Car Ownership in Megacities of Developing Countries


    Subtitle :

    Choices and Implications from Mainland China


    Additional title:

    Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board


    Contributors:
    Han, Shu (author) / Zhang, Hua (author) / Chen, Xiaohong (author)


    Publication date :

    2014-01-01




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



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