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June 10, 2014

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Home » City specials » Hangzhou

Residents still bitter about lottery for car plates

By Xu Wenwen | June 10, 2014, Tuesday | Print Edition

HANGZHOU’S car plate lottery continues to draw flak from many residents as it has led to confusion and loopholes. But the biggest complaint is that it’s extremely difficult to get a plate.

The chance of winning a sixth prize in a popular lottery is 5.89 percent while the odds of winning a license plate through the city’s lottery system, introduced in March, is only 2.2 percent.

Hangzhou government announced new license plate restrictions, effective on March 26, requiring that car  owners can either bid for a plate or try to win one in a lottery system. At the time, officials estimated the odds of winning a license plate would be around 20 percent.

However, the introduction of the lottery has led to a massive surge in bidders.

More than 238,600 people signed up for the first license plate lottery and bidding, chasing 5,866 plates.

On May 26, the city auctioned off 1,333 car plates, 160 for corporate bidders and 1,173 for private bidders. The average bidding price of Hangzhou car plates for individuals was 19,608 yuan (US$3,112).

Even people who didn’t have plan to buy a car are bidding for plates because they fear the price will rise significantly, just like in Shanghai where it cost around 74,000 yuan last month.

“All my family members who are 18 or older applied to bid in the lottery,” said Wang Wei, adding he knows many others did the same thing.

Eligible bidders include anyone who has lived in the city for two years or more, is 18 or older and does not own a car. Bidders do not need to have a driver’s license.

From May 2014 to May 2015, Hangzhou will distribute 80,000 plates to individuals and enterprises — 80 percent through the lottery and the rest for auction.

Traffic congestion

“Rich people can buy a car plate of course, but for commoners like me, I think time is the only thing we can give,” said Chen Jie, another bidder.

The Hangzhou government has said the restriction on car plates is designed to ease traffic congestion and decrease air pollution.

According to a survey conducted last month by Anav, a GPS navigation map company, Hangzhou’s congestion delay index was 2.82, ranking No. 1 among cities in the country. It means its takes 2.82 times longer to get from point A to point B when streets are congested compared to when traffic moves smoothly.

The company said it calculates the figure based on the movement of taxis around the city, adding the average driving speed is 17.84kph.

The introduction of the lottery system has caught residents by surprise. It was announced on March 26, after authorities had repeatedly denied they would place restrictions on car plates. Under the new rules, one resident can only own one plate, and a used car can only be sold once.

The rules have led to several spin-off effects. Second-hand car dealers have relocated to other cities, car dealerships have reduced staff numbers as sales dropped and drivers have rushed to nearby cities to get license plates.

Suburban residents are also complaining because they feel the restrictions should not apply to them because they seldom drive to downtown Hangzhou. Many of these residents are going to other cities now to get a car plate even though it places restrictions on when they can drive in downtown areas.

“We seldom drive to downtown Hangzhou,” said Zhang Sheng’an, from Fuyang County, who planned to go to Shaoxing to get a plate. “So the restrictions placed on driving in Hangzhou don’t matter. My priority is to get a car and a plate.”

But he and many other drivers have been turned away by Shaoxing City authorities, who stopped distributing car plates to Hangzhou residents because the government says it can not handle the demand.

In eight days they issued 680 plates to Hangzhou drivers. On the ninth day they stopped.

Administrative review

Jiaxing, Huzhou, Jinhua and Ningbo have also stopped issuing plates to Hangzhou drivers.

“The side effect shows there is a big loophole in the policy,” said Wu Weiqiang, a professor of Zhejiang University of Technology who studies city public transportation. “Perhaps we will see people go to other provinces to get plates, and it will be difficult for the government to control all these vehicles.”

Others say the policy isn’t fair to individuals who had sold used cars before March 26 but had not yet purchased a new vehicle.

Qiao Hua is one of them. He said government staffers assured him “there wouldn’t be a car plate restriction, and also, even if there was one, the plate could be kept for six months after the transaction.”

But when he contacted authorities after the policy was announced, Qiao said he was told he had to get a new plate through the lottery or purchase one. He and others with the same problem have applied for an administrative review of their cases.

While the policy has drawn criticism and sparked some confusion, it has benefited the new energy vehicle market.

Anyone who purchases an electric car, plug-in hybrid or fuel-cell vehicle can get a license plate without going through the lottery.

Hangzhou now has 102 charging sites. As of last year, 2,900 electric taxis and buses were on the city’s roads.

The government says it is also studying a proposal to subsidize new energy vehicle purchases.

Meanwhile, the rental of an electric car nicknamed “micro bus” has risen since the policy change.

It costs 20 yuan per hour for a two-seat car and 25 yuan for a four-seater.

The program is cosponsored by automaker Geely International Corporation and Zhejiang Kandi Vehicle Company. During workdays about 40 people rent the cars while the number doubles on weekends.

“Our business has picked up dramatically since the car plate lottery was announced,” said the director, who asks to be identified as Bao, of one of the only four “micro bus” rental sites in the city. “Half of our customers are tourists and half are people who live nearby who rent cars to go shopping or take their kids to school.”

Hangzhou


 

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