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| Want to Drive in Beijing? Good Luck in the License Plate Lottery | Want to Drive in Beijing? Good Luck in the License Plate Lottery |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| BEIJING — Hoping to please his future in-laws, Larry Li fought the snarling Beijing traffic one recent spring day to chauffeur them from the train station to his home in the city in a white Volkswagen he had bought just a month earlier. | BEIJING — Hoping to please his future in-laws, Larry Li fought the snarling Beijing traffic one recent spring day to chauffeur them from the train station to his home in the city in a white Volkswagen he had bought just a month earlier. |
| The good will came with a cost: a fine of 200 renminbi, or $30, and a points penalty. | The good will came with a cost: a fine of 200 renminbi, or $30, and a points penalty. |
| Mr. Li, 28, a financial worker, said he and his fiancée were getting married and had just bought a car. “I felt obliged to pick her family up at the train station,” he said. “We took some detours, but we were still videotaped.” | Mr. Li, 28, a financial worker, said he and his fiancée were getting married and had just bought a car. “I felt obliged to pick her family up at the train station,” he said. “We took some detours, but we were still videotaped.” |
| The transgression: He had no local license plate, just an out-of-town one. | The transgression: He had no local license plate, just an out-of-town one. |
| Mr. Li has had a long struggle with the city government over its attempts to limit congestion by rationing license plates. | Mr. Li has had a long struggle with the city government over its attempts to limit congestion by rationing license plates. |
| In the past five years, he has applied 47 times for a Beijing license plate through a lottery-like online registry. But each time, the response has been a terse line: License plate not granted. | In the past five years, he has applied 47 times for a Beijing license plate through a lottery-like online registry. But each time, the response has been a terse line: License plate not granted. |
| Beijing is one of a handful of Chinese cities that limits car license plates by official decree. The competition for a license plate in Beijing is ferocious. In the June lottery, only about one in 725 out of the 2.7 million applicants was granted a license plate, according to official data, making the system one of the most selective in the country. | Beijing is one of a handful of Chinese cities that limits car license plates by official decree. The competition for a license plate in Beijing is ferocious. In the June lottery, only about one in 725 out of the 2.7 million applicants was granted a license plate, according to official data, making the system one of the most selective in the country. |
| As China has urbanized and the Chinese have become more affluent, owning a car has become a way of life for many middle-class citizens. Even in Beijing, a city plagued by gridlock, the desire for cars remains strong. | As China has urbanized and the Chinese have become more affluent, owning a car has become a way of life for many middle-class citizens. Even in Beijing, a city plagued by gridlock, the desire for cars remains strong. |
| Troubled by crowded public transportation systems, the middle class has come to associate cars with the freedom to travel. The city, with a population of about 21 million, now has 5.6 million cars, more than double what it had 10 years ago. | Troubled by crowded public transportation systems, the middle class has come to associate cars with the freedom to travel. The city, with a population of about 21 million, now has 5.6 million cars, more than double what it had 10 years ago. |
| The glut of cars is believed to cause about 30 percent of the air pollution in Beijing, according to the city’s environmental watchdog. Not only are cars clogging the city’s streets, they also encroach on public spaces like sidewalks and bike lanes because of a lack of parking. | The glut of cars is believed to cause about 30 percent of the air pollution in Beijing, according to the city’s environmental watchdog. Not only are cars clogging the city’s streets, they also encroach on public spaces like sidewalks and bike lanes because of a lack of parking. |
| Faced with the problems brought on by the growing number of cars, city officials decided to take action. This month, Beijing’s transportation authorities said they would keep the number of cars under 6.3 million by the end of 2020 by further tightening the annual quota for license plates. | Faced with the problems brought on by the growing number of cars, city officials decided to take action. This month, Beijing’s transportation authorities said they would keep the number of cars under 6.3 million by the end of 2020 by further tightening the annual quota for license plates. |
| The quota this year is set at 90,000, down from 120,000 a year earlier. City officials are also considering traffic congestion fees based on driving radius and number of trips. | The quota this year is set at 90,000, down from 120,000 a year earlier. City officials are also considering traffic congestion fees based on driving radius and number of trips. |
| China is the world’s largest car market. In big cities, along with a house, a car is widely seen as a must-have before marriage. So as Mr. Li’s wedding date drew near, his patience ran out: After buying the Volkswagen in April, he drove more than 620 miles to his fiancée’s home province, Jilin in northeast China, to register his car. | China is the world’s largest car market. In big cities, along with a house, a car is widely seen as a must-have before marriage. So as Mr. Li’s wedding date drew near, his patience ran out: After buying the Volkswagen in April, he drove more than 620 miles to his fiancée’s home province, Jilin in northeast China, to register his car. |
| With an out-of-town license plate, Mr. Li is turning to a decades-long policy called “jinjingzheng,” which translates as the “enter Beijing certificate.” The police-issued permit, which must be renewed weekly, allows people like him to drive in Beijing, but it bans driving during morning and evening rush hours throughout the city, and from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. on several major roads. | With an out-of-town license plate, Mr. Li is turning to a decades-long policy called “jinjingzheng,” which translates as the “enter Beijing certificate.” The police-issued permit, which must be renewed weekly, allows people like him to drive in Beijing, but it bans driving during morning and evening rush hours throughout the city, and from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. on several major roads. |
| Jinjingzheng now helps people like Mr. Li circumvent the city’s license plate rationing, which was created in the late 1970s to monitor traffic inflows from nearby provinces. (Mr. Li got his permit after the police fine.) | Jinjingzheng now helps people like Mr. Li circumvent the city’s license plate rationing, which was created in the late 1970s to monitor traffic inflows from nearby provinces. (Mr. Li got his permit after the police fine.) |
| Zhou Pei, a 39-year-old engineer and city resident, tried a different approach after his unsuccessful application for a local plate in the lottery. Through a used-car salesman functioning as a middleman, he rented a plate for 5,800 renminbi a year (about $870) in 2013. Mr. Zhou and the owner of the plate, whom Mr. Zhou had never met, signed a contract. | Zhou Pei, a 39-year-old engineer and city resident, tried a different approach after his unsuccessful application for a local plate in the lottery. Through a used-car salesman functioning as a middleman, he rented a plate for 5,800 renminbi a year (about $870) in 2013. Mr. Zhou and the owner of the plate, whom Mr. Zhou had never met, signed a contract. |
| After his mother-in-law sold her car in 2014, she was free to legally match her plate to another vehicle within six months. Mr. Zhou thought it would be safer to drive a car under the name of his relative. But when he tried to terminate the contract with the unknown owner of the plate, he found that the man had died. | After his mother-in-law sold her car in 2014, she was free to legally match her plate to another vehicle within six months. Mr. Zhou thought it would be safer to drive a car under the name of his relative. But when he tried to terminate the contract with the unknown owner of the plate, he found that the man had died. |
| “Technically speaking, my car was under his name, so it was his asset,” Mr. Zhou said. “I ended up going through a lot of hassle to solve the problem.” | “Technically speaking, my car was under his name, so it was his asset,” Mr. Zhou said. “I ended up going through a lot of hassle to solve the problem.” |
| The city’s mandate to control vehicle congestion has created a thriving, and illegal, underground market for license plates, said Nie Huihua, a professor of economics at Renmin University in Beijing. | |
| It is against the law to lease a plate obtained through the lottery system, and those who do risk revocation. | |
| Not to mention liability. Because the owner of a license plate is assumed to also be the owner of a car, those who rent plates worry that the owner could go behind their back to “sell” the car or use it as collateral in times of financial difficulties. And license plate owners fear that they will be held responsible if the renters get into serious traffic accidents. | Not to mention liability. Because the owner of a license plate is assumed to also be the owner of a car, those who rent plates worry that the owner could go behind their back to “sell” the car or use it as collateral in times of financial difficulties. And license plate owners fear that they will be held responsible if the renters get into serious traffic accidents. |
| “The reality is that many families who already have a car still have family members registering for the lottery system,” Professor Nie said, “whereas many people who need cars can’t get a license plate. This is not fair at all.” | “The reality is that many families who already have a car still have family members registering for the lottery system,” Professor Nie said, “whereas many people who need cars can’t get a license plate. This is not fair at all.” |
| Nowadays, such dealings have largely migrated online, and prices have shot through the sunroof. Discussion forums devoted to cars and classified advertisement sites like 58.com are flooded with advertisements offering to rent car license plates for Beijing, with prices ranging from 10,000 renminbi (about $1,500) to 13,000 renminbi ($1,950) a year. | |
| The Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, which is responsible for the management of license plates, did not respond to a request for comment. Its former head, Song Jianguo, was sentenced to life in prison this year for handing out license plates in exchange for bribes. | The Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, which is responsible for the management of license plates, did not respond to a request for comment. Its former head, Song Jianguo, was sentenced to life in prison this year for handing out license plates in exchange for bribes. |
| So all that Mr. Li, the Beijing financial worker, can do now is wait for luck to turn his way in the license plate lottery. He and his wife take public transportation to work. But the car always comes in handy for a quick weekend escape from the city, to buy furniture for their new home and to visit their parents, now a 30-minute drive away. | So all that Mr. Li, the Beijing financial worker, can do now is wait for luck to turn his way in the license plate lottery. He and his wife take public transportation to work. But the car always comes in handy for a quick weekend escape from the city, to buy furniture for their new home and to visit their parents, now a 30-minute drive away. |
| “Owning a car is very important for my family,” he said. | “Owning a car is very important for my family,” he said. |