Beijing to cut car registrations in 2014

BEIJING -- Beijing will reduce car registrations from next year in a bid to clean up its air and ease traffic congestion, local transport authorities said Tuesday.

The commission is working with several other government agencies on a new monthly limit on car registrations for the next few years, said Rong Jun, a spokesman of the municipal commission of transport.

The new limit will be announced in late November and be effective in 2014, Rong told a press briefing.

According to a five-year clean air action plan (2013-2017) released Monday, the total number of vehicles in the city will be restricted to around 6 million by the end of 2017.

The city had 5.35 million vehicles at the end of July, according to figures from the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau.

Beijing started to cap the number of cars that could be registered annually in 2011 to 240,000, about one-third of the number registered in 2010. Potential car buyers are required to participate in a license plate lottery.

In August, the municipal commission of transport received about 1.6 million new car license applications. One out of 80 applicants got car purchase permits as only 20,000 new license plates are now issued each month.