China’s capital Beijing is mulling over levying a congestion charge next year to ease traffic jams in this city, said Zhengyu Zhou, Director of Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport, during a press conference held yesterday.
Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport said alleviating congestion will be a priority in Beijing’s development during China’s 13th Five-Year Plan and this metropolis may soon levy a congestion charge, among other practices, to ease its crowed roads, which means drivers may have to pay to drive in some areas of Beijing.
According to Beijing’s comprehensive motor vehicle emission control plan 2013 - 2017, this city’s congestion charge will be a real-time variable pricing scheme based ontraffic flows and emission monitor data, which means the fee upon different vehicles will vary fromdifferent districts and hours.
Director Zhou said Dongcheng and Xicheng are among the districts that are most likely to firstly implement congestion charge. As for the amount, Hongchang Li, associate professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, said to actually make a difference to citizens’commuting behaviors, the amount of the fee should be high enough. While others believe the local economic development level and citizens’affordability should also be taken into consideration.
To be noted, Beijing will not be the first city to levy acongestion charge in the world. Singapore started to charge congestion fees in 1975 and some European cities such as London also started to adopt similar practices to alleviate traffic jams.
