China News Service Client, Beijing, November 1 (Zhang Xu) — On November 1, Beijing’s new regulations on vehicle entry permits, dubbed the “strictest in history,” officially came into effect. This means that, under the new regulations… Following the implementation of the new regulations, approximately one million out-of-town‑registered vehicles currently on Beijing’s roads will be subject to them, meaning that in Beijing, one out of every seven cars will be restricted to driving outside the Sixth Ring Road for more than 280 days each year.
Vehicle traffic on the main roadway of Beijing’s East Third Ring Road. Photo by China News Service reporter Jin Shuo.
What makes it the “strictest ever”?
According to the “Notice of the Municipality of Beijing on Implementing Traffic Management Measures for Certain Passenger Vehicles” (hereinafter referred to as the “Notice”), the measures that took effect on November 1, 2019, are dubbed the “strictest ever” because they introduce four major changes compared with previous policies restricting out-of-town license plates.
Change 1: The restricted area has been further expanded.
Effective November 1, 2019, the restricted‑access zones for out-of‑town license plates have been expanded from Beijing’s Fifth Ring Road to the Sixth Ring Road, with Tongzhou—the city’s administrative sub-center—entirely designated as a restricted area.
Amendment No. 2: The paper-based Beijing entry permit must be clearly displayed.
There are two ways to obtain a Beijing entry permit: one is to apply in person at a highway service station, and the other is to apply online through the “Beijing Traffic Police App.” Following the implementation of the new regulations, permits obtained via the mobile app must be printed out as hard copies and displayed prominently in the lower-left corner on the inside of the front windshield.
The electronic Beijing entry permit must be printed.
Change No. 3: The number of days per year one may enter Beijing will be limited.
Each out-of-town‑registered vehicle may obtain a Beijing entry permit up to 12 times per year, with each permit valid for a maximum of 7 days. Consequently, such vehicles can drive in Beijing for no more than 84 days annually, accounting for 23% of the year’s total days.
According to a relevant official from the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport, applicants may submit applications on a continuous basis or on a monthly or ad hoc basis, depending on their needs. Following the implementation of the new policy on November 1, the remaining 61 days of 2019 will count toward this year’s quota and can be viewed as a “buffer period,” with a new counting cycle beginning on January 1 of next year.
Change Four: Within the restricted zone, parking is prohibited—even if you’re not driving.
Vehicles that have not obtained a Beijing Entry Permit or whose permit has expired, and which are parked on urban roads of branch‑road grade or higher within restricted‑traffic zones, will have the number of days they may apply for a Beijing Entry Permit in the current year reduced proportionally to the number of days they were parked.
Beijing Entry Permit. Photo provided by the interviewee.
One million non-Beijing-registered vehicles are subject to the new regulations.
How many vehicles will be affected by the new regulations on Beijing entry permits? According to data from the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport, as of the end of May this year, the city’s total motor vehicle stock stood at 6.21 million, including 5.19 million passenger cars, with approximately 1 million vehicles registered in other provinces or municipalities. Meanwhile, online reports indicate that some residential communities have already stopped renewing parking spaces for vehicles with out-of-town license plates.
However, Mr. Xu, who lives in Tongzhou, Beijing, and drives a car with a Hebei license plate, said the new regulations won’t affect him much: “In the past, you only needed a Beijing entry permit to go into the city center; now you need one even to return to Tongzhou. But my job isn’t very office‑based, and if it really comes down to it, I can just leave the car in the residential complex—hailing a taxi isn’t a big deal either.”
According to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport, vehicles without a permit may park in their residential community’s designated spaces or in off‑street public parking lots, and this will not result in a reduction of their allotted days. However, if they wish to drive on the road again, they must obtain an entry permit for Beijing; otherwise, they will face corresponding penalties. Furthermore, once an out-of-town vehicle’s entry permit has expired, parking in off‑street lots will neither reduce the number of valid days available for reapplying nor incur any penalties.
As for why the number of days residents can drive into Beijing is being restricted, the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau explained that the central and sub‑central districts have limited transportation infrastructure and resources, making it unable to accommodate a large number of private cars.
According to monitoring and data from Beijing’s traffic management authorities, approximately 709,000 vehicles with out-of-Beijing license plates have repeatedly obtained long-term permits to enter the city and are in continuous use. Among vehicles traveling on urban expressways, out-of-Beijing passenger cars account for as much as 10%; within residential areas inside the Fifth Ring Road, they make up 5% to 13% of parked vehicles, while outside the Fifth Ring Road, this share has risen to 15% to 29%.
This figure has significantly undermined the fairness and effectiveness of Beijing’s policy on regulating the total number of motor vehicles. Of course, this also takes into account the acute shortage of parking resources within the city center.
To what extent can it alleviate Beijing’s parking shortage?
The issue of parking scarcity in Beijing has persisted for a long time. In 1994, the city set a residential parking‑space allocation standard of 0.1 space per household, and subsequently proposed—first in 1999 and then officially issued in 2002—a revised standard: 0.3 spaces per household within the Third Ring Road and 0.5 spaces per household outside it.
In 2015, Beijing revised its residential parking‑space allocation standards once again, stipulating that “the total supply of parking spaces should ideally be maintained at 1.1 to 1.3 times the number of registered motor vehicles.” Under this standard, Beijing’s ideal parking‑space stock would fall between 6.2 million and 7.4 million; however, in reality, this target has fallen far short.
According to parking‑space census data released in 2017 by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport, as of the end of 2016, the total number of parking spaces in urban areas of Beijing stood at 3.82 million, while nighttime parking demand reached 3.84 million, indicating a near‑equilibrium between supply and demand. However, the spatial distribution of parking resources remains uneven, with a shortfall of 1.29 million residential parking spaces. Notably, areas within the Third Ring Road experience severe shortages, accounting for 84% of the city, and no districts within the Fifth Ring Road have an adequate supply of parking spaces.
As of the end of May 2019, Beijing’s motor vehicle stock had reached 6.21 million, including 5.19 million passenger cars. Although the pace of growth in the number of motor vehicles has slowed following the introduction of regulatory measures, it remains an undeniable fact that the number of parking spaces falls short of the number of vehicles.
On the one hand, there is a shortage of parking spaces; on the other, a significant number of spaces remain underutilized. According to the “2017 China Smart Parking Industry Big Data Report,” jointly released by the ETCP Smart Parking Industry Research Institute and the First Financial Business Data Center, Beijing’s parking space utilization rate stands between 40% and 50%.
Parking space utilization is low. Data source: ETCP.
Pan Helin, a postdoctoral researcher in applied economics at the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences, told reporters: “The new regulations on Beijing entry permits can reduce the number of out-of-town vehicles entering the city and will help alleviate parking shortages to some extent. However, since out-of-town vehicles account for only a small share of total traffic, the most effective approach is to leverage big data and staggered‑parking strategies to make better use of existing parking resources.”
Nie Yaguang, deputy director of the Static Traffic Management Division of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport, stated in a media interview that in 2018, the six central districts of Beijing created more than 20,000 parking spaces by tapping into untapped potential and constructing new multi‑level parking facilities.
A parking lot attendant in Beijing directs a vehicle into a parking space. Photo by China News Service reporter Jin Shuo.
Located on Beixinhua Street in Beijing’s Xicheng District, Changsheng Building is situated near residential neighborhoods. With coordination from the district urban management committee and the local subdistrict, the building has made 200 parking spaces available for shared use by residents of three communities—Xijiaominxiang, Beixinhua Street, and Liubukou—resulting in a significant improvement in parking order.
At the parking lot of Changsheng Building, the reporter learned that, starting in July 2019, the monthly parking fee was increased from 900 yuan to 1,000 yuan. However, residents who pass verification through the “Four‑in‑One” system—comprising their household registration book, property ownership certificate, ID card, and vehicle registration—can still enjoy a discounted rate of 400 yuan per month.
“Providing shared parking spaces for residents not only brings them convenience but also benefits us—parking lot utilization has increased by nearly 20 percent on average over a 24-hour period, creating a win-win situation for everyone,” a parking‑lot attendant at Changsheng Building told reporters.
Recently, the Static Traffic Management Division of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport stated that it is developing guiding opinions on time‑shifted shared parking, which will outline incentive mechanisms for parking facility providers and regulatory measures for parking space users.
“According to data from the parking census, Beijing has enormous potential for parking‑sharing initiatives. Whether viewed in terms of the number of idle public‑facility parking spaces or the proximity of these spaces to residential areas, conditions are ripe for implementing parking‑sharing programs,” said Nie Yaguang. He added that currently, approximately 900,000 public‑facility parking spaces lie unused overnight in Beijing. If 50% of these idle spaces could be shared with residential neighborhoods on a time‑shifted basis, it would help address roughly 35% of the parking shortage in those areas—equivalent to the total volume of vehicles parked on city streets at night. This represents a substantial and significant figure.
