Guangzhou Imposes Lottery to Limit New Car Ownership

September 10th, 2012 by Chelsea

Guangzhou via GuoZhongHua / Shutterstock.com

In an effort to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality, the Chinese city of Guangzhou is imposing a lottery for new car license plates. City officials said 120,000 license plates will be issued yearly; the lottery began last month.

“The average bid for a license plate for a private car stood at approximately $3,622.54,” Inhabitat reports.

Critics of the plate lottery say the restriction limits personal freedoms to own cars privately, and that more effective reforms include improving road planning, mass transit, and the use of low-emission cars.

Keep up to date with all the hottest cleantech news by subscribing to our (free) cleantech newsletter, or keep an eye on sector-specific news by getting our (also free) solar energy newsletter, electric vehicle newsletter, or wind energy newsletter.

Tags: China, Guangzhou

About the Author

Chelsea is a former newspaper reporter who has spent the past few years teaching English in Poland, Finland and Japan. When she wasn't teaching or writing, Chelsea was traveling Europe and Asia, sampling spicy street food along the way.