Earlier this month, officials in the Chinese capital said that congestion fees will be introduced on some roads to combat the notorious traffic woes in the city. The idea isn't novel; some European cities already have the practice, and New York City has also considered the plan. Beijing currently has 4.8 million registered vehicles. Measures have taken to curb that growth. Since 2008, certain vehicles have been barred from the streets depending on its license plate and the day of the week. Furthermore starting January, cap has been placed on new car registrations at 20,000 per month.
The goal of the congestion fee is to encourage public transportation usage. A senior municipal official is quoted to say that "by 2015, our goal is to have public transportation handling 50 percent share of traffic volume inside the Fifth Ring Road." However, strong measures have been taken in the past to encourage public transportation usage. The Beijing Subway has enormously expanded within the last decade to climb to worldly ranks of 4th in track length and 5th in ridership. Furthermore in 2007, the fares were reduced to a flat-rate of 2 RMB with unlimited transfers. The municipal government took on the deficit to encourage public transportation usage. While ridership has increased, so has the ownership of cars with the rise of middle-class who can afford personal vehicles.
Transportation service is an inelastic demand. An environmental activist in Beijing is quoted to say that "imposing the toll itself won't change that people have to travel long distances from their homes to work." The convenience offered by cars still exceeds that from mass transit. To truly encourage public transportation usage, mass transit simply needs to be more convenient, by exploiting the pitfall of vehicle usage, congestion. If mass transit can be much faster and more reliable, it could potentially be more convenient. A key to make faster trains is to build express lines. Currently, neither the Shanghai and Beijing Metro has express lines running parallel to local lines, as they do in some parts of New York City's Subway. Instead of focusing on express, both of the Chinese cities are currently expanding lines to new areas. While that encourages more mass transit usage from outer, suburban areas, it still leaves traveling within the city center somewhat inconvenient. By investing in express lines that could take a person from Point A to Point B faster than a car could in the normally congested streets, citizens may truly see public transportation as more convenient.
For the growing middle class, money may not be the ultimate incentive. Despite higher parking prices and other costs associated with driving, they still buy vehicles in bulks and become angered when they can't get the vehicle registration under the current quota. Lowering the costs of public transportation fares may be a miniscule amount to them. Instead, making them more convenient may be the best way to tap into their incentives and get into the heart of the congestion problem in Beijing, and other crowded metropolises.
Sources:
