Driving restrictions lifted in Hebei province

All cities in North China's Hebei province have abolished their years-long measures on driving restrictions based on license plate numbers, after the remaining two cities recently removed such restrictions, according to a report by Xinhua News Agency on Monday.

On Sunday, a notice by the People's Government of Langfang stated that the city will lift the driving restrictions on license plate numbers for motor vehicles throughout the city starting from Monday.

In Qinhuangdao, the restriction measures will also be suspended starting from Monday, said an official notice on Friday. The notice added that the resumption of the restrictions will be announced in advance depending on circumstances.

After the new moves, the whole province, which previously had multiple cities implementing license plate driving restrictions, has abolished the limits.

According to previous policies, cities including Shijiazhuang, Tangshan, Handan, Langfang, Xingtai, Baoding and Hengshui had implemented the restricting measures to provide smooth transportation and control air pollution.

For instance, in the provincial capital city of Shijiazhuang, single and even-numbered license plate restrictions were enforced within the urban area back in 2014 due to reasons such as air pollution control and the rapid increase in the number of motor vehicles, Xinhua reported.

Government officials from relevant departments were quoted for disclosing that there had been an increasing number of calls from the public, suggesting the cancellation of license plate restrictions, the report said.

After conducting in-depth research and collecting opinions, the local governments in Hebei decided to suspend the restrictions based on the cities' traffic conditions and traffic management capabilities, aiming to facilitate public transportation.

What's more, the air quality throughout the province has improved in the past decade thanks to a series of pollution control measures.