Analysis on Beijing's Policy of Restricting Motor Vehicle Usage

Along with the increase of car ownership,the problem of traffic congestion has appeared more and more serious since the 1990s in Beijing.In order to deal with the problem of traffic congestion,the policy of restricting motor vehicle usage,as a measure of transportation demand management by decreasing the total number of on-road motor vehicles,was firstly implemented in 2006 in trial,which continued from 2008 during the period of Olympic Games up to day.Starting with an analysis on policy motivation,this paper describes the practices of restricting motor vehicle usage in Beijing since 2006,analyzes the effects on the performance of the city's transportation,and concludes after a comparative analysis that,in spite of the positive effects on relieving the traffic congestion,the policy of restricting motor vehicle usage could only constitute a temporary measure of traffic demand management,rather than a fundamental one,because the comprehensive effects would decrease along with the continuous growth of motor vehicle possession.