Will Beijing See a Congestion Fee?

Jessica Rapp | Aug 25, 2013 11:00 am | 9 comments | 3845 reads

City officials are considering installing a new measure that could potentially solve the taxi problem and Beijing's nightmarish rush hour all in one go. We're not talking about the now legal booking apps or license plate restrictions here, we're talking a strategy that's had positive effects in London since its installment in 2003. Did we pique your interest yet?

Beijing could be getting a congestion fee to help reduce the traffic congestion index, which has risen 6.4 percent since last year, according to the Global Times. To help you visualize that a little better, studies are showing that the average time you could be stuck in traffic during a weekday is around 100 minutes, compared to 70 minutes last year.

If you own a car, we're sorry. But things could start looking up if this fee goes through. After four years of the fee in London, about 30 percent fewer cars were entering the chargeable zone in the center of the city and there were fewer traffic accidents. The reduced number of cars also made way for the addition of more public buses.

The logistics and the costs of enacting the fee are still being debated, so it's uncertain how long the city would take to get it off the ground. Niu Fengrui, director of the Institute for Urban and Environmental Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that he's not even sure if it would work.

"The congestion fees will not solve the problem for good and this is a costly project. It requires more facilities and human input, which will in turn increase the congestion. Maximizing existing traffic resources should be the most urgent measure to alleviate congestion."

This sounds vaguely familiar. London officials also faced complications regarding congestion fee initially, but since then, there's been evidence of positive effects (this 2008 article gives a good breakdown of the pros and cons of the London fee). We're not sure exactly what Niu means by "more facilities and human input" causing more congestion, but it must only be a drop in the bucket compared to the ocean of cars we're dealing with at the moment...right?

We'll most likely see more on this story in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, let us know: Would you pay a congestion fee to drive into the city center? Do you think others should have to pay a fee? Leave a comment below.

Photo: John Roberts on Flickr

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WayDaLone's picture WayDaLone Submitted by Guest on Thu, 08/29/2013 - 08:32

It might help if city planners would build the city horizontal rather than vertical.
However, we live in a car culture, nothing will prevent the problem from getting worse.

BTW. How about opening a few more gas stations.

squid's picture squid Submitted by Guest on Wed, 08/28/2013 - 21:47

And thus everyone pays higher fees for anything that gets shipped by truck, like say food, water, medicine. And of course taxi fees will also go up, but oh well, if you don't mind sticking it to the guy on the street.

britomart's picture britomart Submitted by Guest on Tue, 08/27/2013 - 17:35

Yeah... but pricing hikes don't stop entitled military and officials who drive whenever and wherever they please.

Doubt wisely; in strange way / To stand inquiring right is not to stray; / To sleep, or run wrong, is. (Donne, Satire III)

admin's picture admin Submitted by Guest on Tue, 08/27/2013 - 13:27

just up the gas prices again. The more you use the car, the more you have to pay. It's fair and simple to enact.

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britomart's picture britomart Submitted by Guest on Tue, 08/27/2013 - 09:34

There's another very significant factor, which our city's officials seems to be ignoring. Fees like that are no barrier to the very wealthy and entitled in this culture--and our city is home to MANY very wealthy and entitled individuals, to whom fees and regulations are no object. If anything, higher rates simply serve to show off yet again that they are the privileged, to whom money (and law) is irrelevant.

That aspect of the problem can never be solved by increased fees, I believe. It can only be solved by an increased respect for the rule of law in society, something that is very likely never going to happen for Beijing's elite.

Doubt wisely; in strange way / To stand inquiring right is not to stray; / To sleep, or run wrong, is. (Donne, Satire III)

mtnerror's picture mtnerror Submitted by Guest on Sun, 08/25/2013 - 12:30

No tolls, no lights on entryways of the ring roads, no enforcement of those using the shoulder to try and jump the queue by hundreds of meters. These things compound the problems. Tolls should certainly be enacted. Premium toll fare for driving during rush hour. Putting bus stations on "expressways" turns the far right lane into a standstill. Buses should be allowed to use expressways but only if they don't stop at stations on the actual expressway! Expressways should not be filled with buses stopping and going every few hundred meters. Several of the ring roads are in effect only 3 lanes wide, not nearly enough for a a mega city such as BJ. Work times should also be adjusted to better spread out rush hours (for example, instead of everybody starting at 8AM, 8:30 or 9, have 8:15, 8:45, 9:15, etc. as start times). Additional lanes need to be built on the expressways. When a winding connector is built, why make it just one lane, such as airport expressway to 2nd Ring Road? Lanes eaten up by overnight parking should be used for transport, not auto storage. Apartment complexes build underground parking facilities and not all are used, instead car owners use the streets to leave their vehicle, which in turn reduces the number of autos who can use that lane to get around the city. Taxpayers are essentially footing their storage bill -- an option for some places, but not a mega city. The city should also start building underground parking garages and charging car owners accordingly -- the city reaps the fees and fewer cars parked on the road, converting parking lanes to actual thru-lanes. Setting up toll stations would be one of the quickest options to enact to try and alleviate the woes.

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