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May 16, 2017

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Home » City specials » Hangzhou

The price of cleaner air: elusive car plates

By Xu Wenwen | 00:01 UTC+8 May 16, 2017 | Print Edition

FOR nine months, the government auctions for new car license plates have pushed prices up, while the rate of those winning the city’s lottery for plates has been dropping.

Last month, the lowest bid at auction was 40,000 yuan (US$5,792). Some 5,942 people had signed up to bid for 1,210 plates on offer.

Meanwhile, the number of winners in the plate lottery in April fell to an all-time low of three quarters of a percent.

Getting a license plate in Hangzhou is no easy matter. There are two options: Car buyers can take their chances in the lottery system to get a plate for free, or bid for a plate at monthly auctions.

Restricting numbers of new license plates issued is part of the municipal government’s strategy to relieve air pollution and traffic congestion in a city with more than 2.1 million vehicles and counting.

Tighter controls are being placed on cars with out-of-town plates. They are now forbidden from driving in certain urban areas during peak hours and from using elevated highways.

Despite the odds, increasing numbers of people are participating in the car plate lottery. By the end of last month, more than 650,000 people had tried their luck. Of that number, some 26,000 were newcomers.

“It takes an average two years to win a plate if you keep participating in the lottery,” said Wu Weiqiang, a traffic expert and professor in Zhejiang University of Technology. “That means it would take 20 years to accommodate all the 650,000 plate-seekers.”

Hangzhou began restricting the issuance of license plates in 2014. Only those residents who hold a valid driver’s license and have made local social insurance payments for consecutive two years are eligible to try their luck in the lottery or the auctions. However, those seeking plates for electric-powered vehicles are exempt from the restrictions.

Chen Qian, her mother and her father tried to increase their chances in the lottery by separately seeking a single license plate since 2014. They had no luck. Finally, Chen’s father-in-law, who owns two cars, said he was willing to give her one of his plates.

But there was a hitch. Her father-in-law’s cars are both stick shifts, which Chen can’t drive. So the family falsely told traffic authorities that one of the father-in-law’s cars had been scrapped so that the license plate could be transferred to Chen’s new automatic-drive vehicle.

Local resident Gao Jiajie was equally unsuccessful in the plate lottery after two years of trying. He finally decided to get what is called a “Hu C” license plate from Shanghai. Hu C cars are forbidden from driving in urban areas of Shanghai, but they don’t require bidding or lottery luck to obtain. All Gao needed was a Shanghai temporary residency permit.

In Hangzhou, non-local cars, such as those bearing Hu C plates, are forbidden from driving in urban areas during peak hours.

“I will replace it as soon as I win a Hangzhou car plate,” said Gao.

Gao is just one of an estimated 60,000 Hangzhou drivers with Hu C plates, according to local traffic authority.

“About 30 percent of the cars we sell apply for Hu C plates,” said a local car salesman, who declined to give his name. “There are lots of dealerships helping customers explore every option.”

A Shanghai Daily journalist posing as a car buyer showed up in a car showroom and was told that application for a non-Hangzhou plate costs from 3,000 yuan to 4,500 yuan. That’s about a 10th of the bidding price in auctions.

Even those lucky enough to win in the lottery sometimes have second thoughts.

On average every month, 167 winners reject the license plates they won, according to the Hangzhou Car Quantity Control Center.

“Some people who win in the lottery end up hesitant to buy a car,” said Jin Lin, director of the center.

Those who reject plates are barred from participating in the lottery for two years, she added.

Although residents grumble about the difficulty of getting a license plate, the restrictions have been successful in reducing the numbers of vehicles on the road. The policy has decreased new cars on the road by 80,000 a year from 290,000 before restrictions were imposed.

Traffic congestion last year eased about 5 percent, according to a national study by China’s Ministry of Transport.

As part of efforts to encourage purchase of electric cars, Hangzhou plans to add 500 more charging poles in the city.

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