Officials hope the fees will lead more residents to use
public transport, according to the plans announced on Thursday, the state-run
news agency Xinhua said.
The reports did not give details of tolls that would be
imposed or how those fees would be collected.
Beijing’s plan will provide unspecified incentives to buy
so-called new-energy cars, including electric vehicles. It pledged to upgrade
equipment at electric-vehicle charging stations and build more of them, Xinhua
said.
The Chinese capital has already taken several measures to
reduce traffic pressure since the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, when it began to
order some vehicles off the streets on certain days depending on the license
plate numbers.
That policy has not had much effect on gridlock, which has
continued to deteriorate.
Beijing in January began capping new car registrations at
20,000 per month, available through a lottery. But that has only slowed the
pace of increased congestion, while angering tens of thousands of hopeful car
owners left unable to buy a vehicle.
Beijing has also increased parking fees, built parallel
roads, widened certain intersections and expanded its subway system, all to try
to relieve traffic congestion.
China overtook the Unites States in 2009 as the world’s
largest auto market. The rapid growth of car ownership has caused traffic
nightmares in major Chinese cities, with Beijing expected to have 7 million
vehicles on the road by 2012.
