Motorcycle Ban in Guangzhou and Two-wheeler Issues in China Xianyuan Zhu ITDP, China [email protected]
Motorcycle Ban in Guangzhou and Two-wheeler Issues in China
Xianyuan ZhuITDP, China
By 2006, China had a fleet of over 80 Million motorcycles (far more than any other country)
Source: Weinert, J., et al., The future of electric two-wheelers and electric vehicles in China. Energy Policy (2008)
2 wheelers production in major countries
Source: SIAM 2006
China: by far the largest manufacturer of motorized two-wheelers
Motorcycle ownership per 1000 people in 2004. The motorcycle fleet increased at an annual rate of around 17% in China over the last 17 years
Source: Argonne National Lab, Dec 2006, citing SSBC 2005
• Guangzhou led the way in a process of regulating, containing and eventually banning motorized 2 and 3 wheelers
• Cities throughout China followed suit
In the early 1980s, owning a motorcycle was equivalent in status terms to having an expensive imported car today.
In 1978 the number of motorcycles registered in the Guangzhou urban area was only 3,833. Most of the owners were overseas Chinese who had returned from Southeast Asian countries.
Motorcycle ownership grew rapidly in the 1980s, as Guangzhou’s economy thrived as one of the coastal open areas.
By 1982 the number of motorcycles registered in the Guangzhou urban area had increased to 8,892.
By 1988 the number of registered motorcycles exceeded 100,000 for the first time; a growth rate of around 40% per year over a decade.
By 1992 the number of motorcycles registered in Guangzhou’s urban area exceeded 200,000. By 1995 the figure had reached 361,000; a growth rate averaging 20% per year since 1988.
In 1997, the number of motorcycles registered in the Guangzhou urban area reached their historical peak of 401,655.
Registered motorcycle fleet in Guangzhou (may be only around half the actual fleet)
0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
300,000
350,000
400,000
450,000
1978 1982 1988 1992 1995 1997 2000
By 2003 motorcycles accounted for more than one quarter of non-walking trips
39.234.0
19.4
2.34.6
0.4 0.30.05.0
10.015.020.025.030.035.040.045.0
walk bicycle bus ferry official car & shuttle bus
motorcycle taxi
Guangzhou 1984: negligible cars and motorcycles. 94% of trips: walk, bicycle, bus
25%
10%
30%
5% 5%
20%
5%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
walk bicycle bus ferry car motorcycle taxi
Reasons for imposingthe ban on motorcycles
• Noise pollution
• Air pollution
• Traffic crashes and fatalities
• Illegal motorcycle taxi operation
• Impact on traffic order
• Impact on the image of Guangzhou
• Theft and security
Progressive implementation of the ban• Oct. 1991: from 7:00am to 7:00pm motorcycles not
registered in the city were not allowed to operate within the eight Guangzhou urban districts. Only 500 motorcycle registrations would be accepted each month.
• 1995: No new motorcycle registrations accepted
• March 1998: stopped processing motorcycle scrapping, updating of registration information, or claims for loss of registration markings
• 1999: Motorcycles not registered in the urban area totally prohibited from operation within the city
Progressive implementation of the ban• Nov. 2000: motorcycles and three-wheelers registered outside
the respective areas were prohibited from operating within an additional four areas outside the main Guangzhou urban area: Panyu District, Huadu District, Zengcheng City, and Conghua City
• 2001: working group set up on banning motorcycles
• Jan. 2002: Guangzhou City Motorcycle Scrapping Management Regulation came into force. Motorcycles registered more than 15 years ago must be scrapped, except for motorcycles which met current emission standards
• Dec. 2002: registration of new motorcycles in two adjoining districts (Panyu and Huadu) and cities (Conghua and Zengcheng) halted
Progressive implementation of the ban
• Feb. 2003: Mandatory scrapping date for motorcycles and three-wheelers adjusted to 10 yrs and 8 yrs respectively
• Apr. 2003: Any motorcycle registered before 1 Jan. 1990 must be scrapped immediately. Motorcycles registered between 1990 and 1993 must be scrapped by 1 Oct. 2003
• Mar. 2004: "Announcement on Restricting Motorcycles Running on Road Sections in Some Urban Regions", restricting motorcycles in the downtown area, applied in 3 phases.
Progressive implementation of the ban• The first phase from 1 May 2004 banned motorcycles each
day from 9:00am to 4:30pm, and again from 8:30pm to 5:00am the next day .
Progressive implementation of the ban
• The second phase, from 1 January 2006, banned motorcycles from running on Dongfeng Road for 24 hours each day.
• The third phase, from 1 January 2007, banned all motorcycles from the urban area, 24 hours each day.
A railing protruding over the bike ramp combined with stairs for the first few metres allows bicycles but not motorcycles to pass this bridge at the Guangzhou Sports Centre.
Complementary measures
• Public transport: More than 50 short bus routes were introduced to help meet demand previously served by motorcycle taxis
Compensation for scrapping• The “Guangzhou City Compensation Incentive Plan for Motorcycles
Scrapped or Moved Out of Urban Areas," required payment of compensation for each motorcycle which was scrapped. By May 2006 more than 5,000 motorcycles had already been scrapped, and the total compensation paid exceeded 6.27 million yuan (US$920,000); around US$180 per motorcycle.
• Compensation was calculated according to whether the motorcycle was used for less than 10 years, or between 10 and 13 years. (For motorcycles older than 13 years, no compensation was paid.)
• For motorcycles used for less than 10 years the compensation was calculated according to the cost when it was bought (according to the receipt) minus the average depreciation over a ten year period, with a minimum of 1,260 yuan (~US$150 by earlier exchange rate)
• Incentive for owners to scrap motorcycles sooner rather than later.
Complementary measures
• Employment support for displaced motorcycle drivers– Several special labour fairs were held to provide
support to people previously employed as motorcycle taxi drivers or elsewhere in the motorcycle sector to find new jobs.
Complementary measures
• Special enforcement measures– In motorcycle gathering places, ‘collective combat’
operations were mounted, including the use of plain-clothes as well as uniformed policemen and officials, mobile equipment inventory, ‘ambushes’, and other methods to seize illegal vehicles
Scrapping
Complementary measures
• Selective enforcement in some outlying areas, and in some urban villages with heavy small industry and trading activities
Environmental, security, safety and pedestrian amenity improvements
• Noise pollution, especially in narrow alleyways and at night, was greatly reduced, and significant reductions in carbon monoxide, particulates and nitrogen oxide emissions were reported.
• Crashes significantly declined in January to August 2007 (when there were no motorcycles) compared to the same period a year earlier. Crashes declined by 17.5%, deaths by 2.2%, injuries by 20.4%, and property losses by 42.3%.
• In Guangzhou from January to August 2007 there were 52,141 criminal cases, a decline of 15.3% compared with the corresponding period a year earlier. Snatch theft cases declined by 44.3% over the same period.
• The quality of the walking environment throughout the city has been greatly improved.
Traffic and mode split impact
• Traffic speeds have rapidly deteriorated over the last two years
• But the motorcycle ban may not be the main contributor
Short term motorcycle mode shifts following the ban from 1 January 2007
bus51%
bicycle18%
car18%
pedestrian9%
metro2%
other2%
Half shifted to buses. And although nearly 20% ofmotorcycle riders shifted to cars, the same percentagesh i f t e d t o b i c y c l e s , a nd n ea r l y 10% wa l ked .
Concluding remarks
• Banning of a major mode, widely seen as successful and supported by communities, despite probable adverse impact on congestion
• Draconian but not crude
• Same approach being taken in nearly all Chinese cities, and even in many counties
• Local industry not necessarily an obstacle
By 2006, China had a fleet of over 80 Million motorcycles (far more than any other country)
Source: Weinert, J., et al., The future of electric two-wheelers and electric vehicles in China. Energy Policy (2008)