随
着中国人对汽车的锺爱有增无减，城市交通堵塞也日益严重，中国首都北京正考虑对机动车采取新的限制措施解决这一问题。
Reuters
北京一条道路上，汽车在缓慢前行。北京正考虑对机动车采取新的限制措施。
北京市交通委员会还提出要建设更多高速公路、地铁和停车设施，包括建设驻车换乘停车场，并建议上调停车收费标准，号召市民多在家办公，倡导骑自行车出行，让这种因汽车增多而几近消失的传统交通方式重新回归。
在未最终决定之前，这些措施可能会被更改或取消。周一的文件中有很多细节模糊不清，包括时间等，北京交通委员会未回复要求置评的请求。
北京交通治堵方案已引起数周的热烈讨论，但在这些具体方案公布于北京交通委员会的网站上后，互联网论坛上的评论不多。驾车者当然希望交通情况改善，但很多人仍然想买车，并对交通变得如此糟糕感到很气愤。
一名北京居民在天涯论坛上评论道，北京的交通拥堵事实上是政府之前规划不合理导致的。普通市民被挤出市中心为政府和企业腾出地方，所以在早高峰时段，人们都往市中心扎堆，而到了晚上，大量人流又从市中心往回走。
尽管如此，此次治堵方案涉及的范围之广表明，面对中国新兴中产阶级对汽车看似无止尽的追求，政府努力想控制交通状况。去年，中国超过美国成为年销量最大的汽车市场，行驶车辆迅速增多，包括北京在内的很多城市一直都无法进行调整。
在2008年夏季奥运会之前，北京大举扩展了公共交通体系，新修了地铁和公交线路，规定市区私家车根据车牌号每周工作日限行一天。这一限行措施仍然有效，但取得的初步成效也赶不上新车数量的增加。
北京交管局表示，在北京这个有近2,000万人口的城市里，登记的汽车数量已从2005年的260万辆增至今年的470万辆，增长了近一倍。官方媒体援引政府调查员的话说，如果任其发展，到2015年北京道路平均车速可能会减至每小时15公里(合9英里)，基本上是晃晃悠悠骑自行车的速度。
通往北京的京藏高速公路一度是世界上拥堵最为厉害的道路之一，今年夏天这条路上接连发生大堵车，断断续续的拥堵长达数周时间，而车辆动辄排队长达100公里，不过那次堵车主要是由商用卡车造成的。
中国部分城市已开始实施交通限行。例如，上海限制车辆新牌照的发放。官方媒体曾报道称，中国东部省份江苏和浙江等地区正在考虑实施要求市民先买车位后买车等措施。
北京的交通已经非常糟糕了，市民和媒体数月来纷纷猜测应该会出台新的限制措施。人们担心可能政府会限制购买新车，并且预计中央政府可能会终止小排量车的购置税优惠计划，这些都在一定程度上造成了近几月的购车热潮，因为人们都试图赶在限令出台之前买车。
一些汽车业高管和分析人士认为，北京方面正在考虑执行的这些限制措施可能会减慢汽车销量的增长。中国汽车工业协会副秘书长熊传林上周在新闻发布会上说，中国汽车销量的增长到2011年可能会减至10%，此前2009年中国汽车销量增幅近50%，今年的增幅也超过30%。
周一的声明说，北京的交通压力正越来越大，因此需要一系列措施缓解日益严重的拥堵问题。
其它建议包括将政府部门每年所购汽车数量限制在当前水平，这等于是对为数众多的公务车辆眯了头，其中很多都是豪华车，这些车也是造成拥堵的原因之一。另外，北京市政府正敦促市民远程办公，并鼓励公司实行更灵活的工作时间。
很多北京市民可能会欢迎政府改善交通状况的举措。但提高停车费并征收拥堵费对政府来说是个难题，因为一刀切的停车费和拥堵费会成为低收入市民的负担，而中国不断加大的贫富分化目前是一个主要社会问题。
Norihiko Shirouzu
（本文版权归道琼斯公司所有，未经许可不得翻译或转载。）
China's capital is weighing new restrictions on car use aimed at curbing the increasingly severe traffic congestion born of China's growing love affair with the automobile.
Gridlock-fighting measures being considered include fees for drivers to use certain congested roads and a system that would bar vehicles from some roads during peak traffic times, depending on whether the final digit of their license plates is an odd or even number, according to a proposal posted for public comment Monday on the Beijing Municipal Committee of Transport's website.
The commission also pledged to build more freeways, subways and parking structures, including park-and-ride facilities. And it recommended raising parking fees and called on residents to work more from home and to use bicycles more -- an effort to reverse the near disappearance of pedaled transport over the past decade as car use has exploded in the capital.
The measures could change or be eliminated before any new rules are made final. Monday's document left vague many details, including timing, and the committee didn't respond to a request to comment.
Traffic-rule changes in China's capital have been hotly debated for weeks, although only a trickle of comments appeared in Internet forums after the specific proposals were offered on the commission's website. Drivers want improvements, of course, but many people still want to buy cars and are angry about how the situation got so bad.
Beijing's congestion 'is actually caused by planning mistakes made earlier by the government,' one Beijing resident said in a comment posted on Tianya, a popular Internet forum in China. Ordinary citizens were pushed out of central Beijing to make room for the government and businesses, so 'during morning rush hours, people are flooding into the central city, while in the evening, people are rushing out from the city center.'
Still, the range of proposed measures reflects the government's struggle to get traffic under control in the face of a seemingly insatiable appetite for cars from China's rising middle class. China last year surpassed the U.S. as the biggest car market by annual sales, and the increase in driving has occurred so quickly that many cities like Beijing haven't been able to adjust.
Beijing undertook a major expansion of its public-transit system ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympics, adding new subway and bus lines, and barred selected private vehicles from downtown roads one business day each week based on their license plate numbers. That measure has remained in effect, but its initial benefits have been overwhelmed by the increase in new cars.
The number of cars registered in Beijing, a city of nearly 20 million people, has nearly doubled, to 4.7 million this year from 2.6 million in 2005, the transport commission said. State media have cited government researchers saying that if nothing is done, the average speed of car traffic in the capital could slow to 15 kilometers, or nine miles, per hour, by 2015 -- about the speed of easy bicycling.
A highway leading into Beijing was the site of one of the world's most notorious traffic jams, a snarl that recurred repeatedly over weeks this summer and stretched as long as 100 kilometers at times -- although that jam was caused mainly by commercial-truck traffic.
Some parts of China already have limits on driving. Shanghai, for example, limits the issuance of new license plates. And state media have said other locales, such as eastern provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, are considering measures such as requiring residents to secure a parking space before being allowed to buy a car.
Traffic in Beijing has gotten so bad that residents and media have speculated for months that new curbs would be coming. Concerns there might be limits on new purchases, combined with expectations that the national government might end some incentives for buying smaller cars, has helped fuel a rush of car-buying in recent months as people try to get ahead of the rules.
Some auto-industry executives and analysts think curbs like those being considered in Beijing could slow car-sales growth. Xiong Chuanlin, vice secretary of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, told a news conference last week that car sales growth in China will likely slow to about 10% in 2011 after growing nearly 50% in 2009 and more than 30% this year.
Monday's statement said 'pressures from traffic are becoming overwhelming' in Beijing. 'A series of measures are thus needed to ease traffic congestion, which is becoming worse by the day,' it said.
Its other proposals include capping at current levels the number of cars that can be purchased each year by government agencies -- a nod to the huge number of official vehicles, many of them luxury cars, that clog the streets. And, the municipal government is urging residents to telecommute and encouraging companies to allow employees to work more flexible hours.
Many residents in Beijing are likely to welcome efforts to improve traffic. But levying higher parking fees and congestion charges are tricky for the government because the effects of those uniform parking fees and traffic charges burden lower-income residents in a country where the widening wealth gap is a major social issue.
Norihiko Shirouzu
Gridlock-fighting measures being considered include fees for drivers to use certain congested roads and a system that would bar vehicles from some roads during peak traffic times, depending on whether the final digit of their license plates is an odd or even number, according to a proposal posted for public comment Monday on the Beijing Municipal Committee of Transport's website.
The commission also pledged to build more freeways, subways and parking structures, including park-and-ride facilities. And it recommended raising parking fees and called on residents to work more from home and to use bicycles more -- an effort to reverse the near disappearance of pedaled transport over the past decade as car use has exploded in the capital.
The measures could change or be eliminated before any new rules are made final. Monday's document left vague many details, including timing, and the committee didn't respond to a request to comment.
Traffic-rule changes in China's capital have been hotly debated for weeks, although only a trickle of comments appeared in Internet forums after the specific proposals were offered on the commission's website. Drivers want improvements, of course, but many people still want to buy cars and are angry about how the situation got so bad.
Beijing's congestion 'is actually caused by planning mistakes made earlier by the government,' one Beijing resident said in a comment posted on Tianya, a popular Internet forum in China. Ordinary citizens were pushed out of central Beijing to make room for the government and businesses, so 'during morning rush hours, people are flooding into the central city, while in the evening, people are rushing out from the city center.'
Still, the range of proposed measures reflects the government's struggle to get traffic under control in the face of a seemingly insatiable appetite for cars from China's rising middle class. China last year surpassed the U.S. as the biggest car market by annual sales, and the increase in driving has occurred so quickly that many cities like Beijing haven't been able to adjust.
Beijing undertook a major expansion of its public-transit system ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympics, adding new subway and bus lines, and barred selected private vehicles from downtown roads one business day each week based on their license plate numbers. That measure has remained in effect, but its initial benefits have been overwhelmed by the increase in new cars.
The number of cars registered in Beijing, a city of nearly 20 million people, has nearly doubled, to 4.7 million this year from 2.6 million in 2005, the transport commission said. State media have cited government researchers saying that if nothing is done, the average speed of car traffic in the capital could slow to 15 kilometers, or nine miles, per hour, by 2015 -- about the speed of easy bicycling.
A highway leading into Beijing was the site of one of the world's most notorious traffic jams, a snarl that recurred repeatedly over weeks this summer and stretched as long as 100 kilometers at times -- although that jam was caused mainly by commercial-truck traffic.
Some parts of China already have limits on driving. Shanghai, for example, limits the issuance of new license plates. And state media have said other locales, such as eastern provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, are considering measures such as requiring residents to secure a parking space before being allowed to buy a car.
Traffic in Beijing has gotten so bad that residents and media have speculated for months that new curbs would be coming. Concerns there might be limits on new purchases, combined with expectations that the national government might end some incentives for buying smaller cars, has helped fuel a rush of car-buying in recent months as people try to get ahead of the rules.
Some auto-industry executives and analysts think curbs like those being considered in Beijing could slow car-sales growth. Xiong Chuanlin, vice secretary of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, told a news conference last week that car sales growth in China will likely slow to about 10% in 2011 after growing nearly 50% in 2009 and more than 30% this year.
Monday's statement said 'pressures from traffic are becoming overwhelming' in Beijing. 'A series of measures are thus needed to ease traffic congestion, which is becoming worse by the day,' it said.
Its other proposals include capping at current levels the number of cars that can be purchased each year by government agencies -- a nod to the huge number of official vehicles, many of them luxury cars, that clog the streets. And, the municipal government is urging residents to telecommute and encouraging companies to allow employees to work more flexible hours.
Many residents in Beijing are likely to welcome efforts to improve traffic. But levying higher parking fees and congestion charges are tricky for the government because the effects of those uniform parking fees and traffic charges burden lower-income residents in a country where the widening wealth gap is a major social issue.
Norihiko Shirouzu
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