Urban Transport - India Environment Portal

12 Urban Transport Strategy to Combat Climate Change in the People’s Republic of Chinastatistical books. Table 1 shows the vehicle population in Beijing and Shanghai for theyears 2006 and 2007. Considering that Shanghai has a larger population and higherper capita income than Beijing, it is surprising that Beijing has a much larger registeredprivate car population (2.1 million) than Shanghai (0.6 million). This is largely due to thevehicle quota system used (vehicle plate auction for new registered vehicles) in Shanghaisince 1994. Table 1 also shows that Beijing has much fewer operated motorcycles thanShanghai. This is due to urban road traffic management measures in Beijing, whichrestrict motorcycle use as follows:• From 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., motorcycles are forbidden in Chang An Avenue(since 16 December 1998).• Motorcycles are forbidden at all times on the second to fifth ring roads (since8 December 2000).• All motorcycles with Beijing B license plates and plates from other provincesare forbidden inside the 4th Ring Road, side roads excluded (since 1 July 2001).• In Beijing, it is hard for new motorcycles to get a license plate because of thelimits imposed on new license plates.Table 1Number of Vehicles Operating in Beijing and Shanghai,2006 and 2007BeijingShanghaiVehicle Type2006 2007 2006 2007Public bus 18,950 18,753 16,899 16,672CNG bus 3,243 3,752 281 281LPG bus 307 0 0 0Trolleybus 572 642 385 272Taxi 66,646 66,646 48,022 48,614Ferry n.a. n.a. 53 53Metros 967 1,130 746 858Light rail 0 0 0 244Streetcar 0 0 0 0Private car 1,810,417 2,120,973 509,400 612,900Motorcycles 262,000 n.a. 1,241,500 1,259,700Military car n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.Agricultural vehicles n.a. n.a. 14,000 13,400Total vehicles for civil use* 2,753,798 3,072,192 2,381,300 2,536,000CNG = compressed natural gas, LPG = liquefied petroleum gas, n.a. = not available.* “Total vehicles for civil use” means all kinds of vehicles for commercial and noncommercial purposes, both privately andnon-privately owned, excluding vehicles for military use. It covers buses, trolleybuses, taxis, private cars, motorcycles,agricultural vehicles (tractors), and other motor vehicles.Source: The authors, based on various applied statistics books in the People’s Republic of China.