Should Beijing levy congestion fees on vehicles headed downtown?

September 16, 2011 Filed under Debate

By Zhao Hongyi

In the Beijing municipal government’s 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), released earlier this year, officials finally went ahead with a much-discussed vehicle fee for cars entering the downtown, similar to a congestion fee that was implemented in London years ago.

The traffic fee has been bandied about for nearly a decade as the capital faces an increasing number of cars and worsening pollution.

Beijing used to be dominated by bikes, but now it’s all about the car: there are close to 5 million registered vehicles, or nearly 60 for every hundred households.

Ten years ago, the city had only 1 million registered vehicles. By 2005, that number had doubled, and it’s gone up every year since.

More seriously, the city has nearly 1 million business vehicles owned by government officials. Private car owners have often criticized the government for failing to scale back its car purchases.

In addition, hundreds of thousands of vehicles from other provinces enter Beijing each day.

The city has made strides in building a sufficient public transportation system, but citizens still complain that it isn’t enough.

Many argue that, aside from the increase in vehicles, inadequate planning, roadside construction and lack of enforcement of traffic rules are huge problems.

“The government has many options to ease the congestion instead of levying these fees,” said Li Chunsheng, a private car owner. “The fee won’t solve all the problems.”

Can’t bear another tax

We private car owners already have to pay too many fines and taxes, such as the vehicle purchasing and gasoline tax, and toll fees. Oil prices are increasing every day. It’s really a heavy burden now to ordinary car owners. It’s OK if you offer us a more convenient public transportation system. The problem is, the system doesn’t extend far enough, especially newly developed areas.

– Qin Xiaojiang,

private car owner

Understandable policy

I fully understand the municipal government’s headaches. Beijing has too many vehicles, and car owners like to use their cars to do everything. Everyone is complaining about traffic jams, but no one has the self-restraint to stop driving. People who are considering buying cars should realize that there will be all these costs, so they have to be willing to pay up and stop complaining.

– Rong Jie,

businessman, COFCO

Interested in how fees

are collected

I’m a recent graduate, so the congestion fee doesn’t apply to me since I don’t own a car. But the cost of living in Beijing is terribly high, while our salaries have remained low. We have no idea where these added vehicle fees are going. Many media reports have unveiled that the collected fees are going into government coffers. There’s just too much corruption! The government should make their procedures more transparent (before levying more fees).

– Wu Jiayan,

recent graduate from Tianjin Academy of Arts

Levy tax on government vehicles and the rich first

Get rid of those government vehicles, which are a waste of money and a burden on us. Second, tax the rich – they don’t care how much you charge. Why does the government want to levy fees on us ordinary people? We already pay too much.

– Gao Weiming,

netizen

The core issue here is about solving the problem of congestion. We need to make it clear who causes the congestion: government vehicles, the rich and those don’t follow traffic rules are major players. Therefore, the government should find ways to deal with those issues first, rather than levying a universal fee on all drivers.

No matter how high the congestion fee, it won’t have any impact on government vehicles and the rich. This is just not right.

If the authorities insist on levying the fee, they can be more creative in how they do it. For instance, they can impose the fee on vehicles entering the central business district (CBD), Tian’anmen Square, Financial Street or the Ring Roads, or impose various fees on vehicles based on the amount of time they spend downtown, or impose higher parking fees.

In fact, we have many tools for easing traffic congestion, like persuading people to use public transportation. All in all, solving the congestion problem will take a more comprehensive effort than simply levying a fee.

Until the government improves the public transportation system, it should leave private car owners alone.

– Jiang Kejiong,

director of the Energy and Transportation Research Institute, National Development and Reform Commission

London started levying a congestion fee on vehicles entering downtown in 2003. Since then, the number of vehicles in the downtown area have been reduced 20 to 30 percent, increasing traffic flow by 25 percent.

But the system in London is very flexible. It charges drivers on a per day basis, so drivers can leave and enter the downtown multiple times within 24 hours. There are also different rates for rush hour and non-rush hour traffic. People who live in the downtown area are charged 10 percent less.

Singapore has a similar system, but that city is stricter. In 1975, it began charging drivers who entered the 6-square-kilometer downtown area. It also has high parking fees.

The New York city council approved a bill related on March 31, 2008 regarding vehicles entering midtown Manhattan from 6 am to 6 pm. Private cars are levied a fee of $8, trucks are charged $21 and taxis $1.

Beijing is planning to levy downtown vehicle fees to ease traffic woes. CFP Photo

By Zhao Hongyi