Introduction
China’s rapid economic growth expanded the job market, leading to significant rural-to-city urbanization and an increased demand for transportation services and consumptions. Especially, China, which transformed into an e-commerce market during the COVID-19 lockdown period, has experienced a surge in industrial transportation activities. China has built millions of miles of roads, bridges, and railway tracks to connect the vast country as well as create city population centers from scratch that house millions of people that a few decades ago were nothing but empty fields, cementing China as the largest producer of carbon emissions in the world. Nevertheless, this expansion has incurred a significant toll, as the heightened dependence on automobiles fueled by coal, coke, crude oil, gasoline, kerosene, diesel, fuel oil, and natural gas (the eight most prevalent fuel types in use in China’s transportation sector) (Li, 2020) has resulted in concerning levels of carbon emissions and atmospheric contamination. According to Decomposition Analysis, transport intensity is a widely used analytical measure that indicates the correlation between traffic volume and economic output. Between 2002 and 2017, there was a notable increase of 100.83 million tons in CO2 emissions, accounting for approximately 14.34% of the total contribution of carbon dioxide emissions within the transportation sector (Li, 2020). Moreover, this growth has also resulted in environmental challenges, including air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, energy intensity, and traffic congestion. To address these issues and move toward a more sustainable transportation system, we propose a comprehensive policy framework to promote clean and efficient transportation solutions throughout the country.
Analysis
The first approach to lower transport emissions was through the expansion of the road systems, which was between the 1990s and 2000s. The government invested in the expressway network to ensure that there was less traffic on the road. However, the approach did not work in the urban cities as the traffic kept piling up, which led to a change in ideas for reducing the traffic rates. The government stopped focusing on road expansion and was inclined to work on the public transport system. The main focus was to improve mobility and accessibility, which was the proposed way to alleviate congestion and traffic in the cities. The shift of expenditures from urban infrastructure to public transportation was great news to the transit providers and users (Li et al., 2021). However, the investment was unbalanced as most of it went to the high capacity and rapid transportation such as the metro-rail, inter-city high-speed rail, and bus rapid transit, which focused less on the modernization of essential bus services. The action policy worked but did not completely alleviate the main issue in the transport sector, as it only solved a part of the problem. The high-speed rail was such a huge investment as, by 2011, the country had the largest rail compared to the rest of the world. The projected implementation rates slowed down after a tragic accident in 2011, which led to a concern that the mode might not have been safer for the users.
The transport sector has been the main reason behind the high increase in carbon emissions as road traffic continues to rise due to an increase in personal cars. The local and national governments have been making significant efforts to alleviate traffic congestion and lower auto pollution through the promotion of the use of public transport and other cleaner transport modes (Zhou et al., 2021). In the state Council Opinion No. 46 in 2006, the government urged road users to utilize public transport more. The key actions that have been taken on the local level entail increased investment in the mass rail transit for the larger cities, increased government financial support to support the bus transport sector, creation, and development of the bus rapid transit, subsidizing the public transit fares, bus priority schemes, cleaner bus fuels and adoption of better vehicle emission standards. The strategies and action plans by the local governments are to ensure that there is a decline in traffic congestion, which has played a key role in increasing carbon emissions. Considering the high level of urbanization, there is a need for a transport solution where every person will be accommodated without having to use private cars every now and then.
The policies by the local government are developed to help address the localized urban transport problems (Nawaz et al., 2022). There are those that will have a direct impact on the users, while others will impact them indirectly. As far as they will contribute to energy saving, they will also assist in the reduction of greenhouse gases, which impact the climate of the country at a secondary level. The urban transport sector contributes more to the national climate change management agenda, which is the reason why most policies are inclined toward it. Urban development is the broader context that should be addressed when looking to enhance energy efficiency, as well as climate change issues that are yet to be fully addressed.
One of the policies that the government has created is the competitive car plate policy. The policy is meant to benefit families that do not have a car already by providing them with new-energy vehicle plates and also introducing the new system, which will increase the acceptance rate for all the participants in a household(Wang et al., 2021). The policy will not only assist in dealing with the emissions issue in the transport sector but will also help in improving social justice in regard to resource allocation as well as promote consumption, which in the long run causes stimulation in the economy. The new policy indicates that each person can only have one car plate while the excess will be transferred to relatives. The allocation will not only assist in the allocation of resources but will also enhance urban vitality, which will play a key role in promoting social justice in meeting the needs of the growing families in Beijing. The ability of the government to intervene on the car plate issue will create an opportunity for the introduction of electric vehicles, which have less emissions and will ensure that there is less traffic on the road.
Role of government and private sector
Tesla is one of the biggest companies that have been ruling China’s private transport sector. Tesla’s factory in China is based in Shanghai and has stopped offering free license plates for EVs after months of selling a Hong Guang Mini, an electric vehicle that the younger generation has grown fond of. In the big cities, residents have to go through lucky draws or take part in auctions to acquire a car license plate, which is a way for the authorities to lower congestion and deal with air pollution. The city is already too congested to accommodate more EVs, which is the main reason why the government put a hold on the production of more EVs. An increase in the number of green vehicles on the road is naturally adding to the pressure on the road transport system, which the government has been working to reduce for years. A policy was created whereby all the automobiles that had non-local plates were prohibited from driving on elevated roads in Shanghai for given times of the day (Li, 2021). The limit on the number of EVs was imposed to reduce the pressure. Tesla is among those companies in the private sector that needed to be regulated to ensure that there is a balance in the production rates to what the transport system could hold.
The strategy worked as the Hong Guang Mini stopped being produced in the same capacity that it was being produced previously. However, it is not a guarantee that the solution will last, as road users are still purchasing vehicles from other motor companies outside the country. The government may impose higher taxes on imported cars to control the private sector, which works for a period of time and then bounces back as, eventually, the people will always get what they feel is right with them. The control approaches have to keep changing with time to ensure that there is a balance as the government seeks a permanent solution for the issues at hand in regard to the transport sector.
Recommendations
There are local policies that have worked to slow down the increase in car ownership and also in deterring automobile usage. The bid auction mechanism in Shanghai impacted the number of cars bought as only a third of new purchases were made, which shows that there was a huge impact on the private sector, which has been the main cause of the challenges road transport has been facing (China: Urban transport and climate change management – ESMAP). Another strategy that the cities could use is to limit the use of automobiles by increasing the parking fees, which have caused many to use ride-and-park facilities. The policies have helped in slowing down the increased rates of car ownership, which further increases the use of public transport.
Different transit modes should be coordinated in a better way to ensure that there is proper time interchange for the sake of creating convenience for the passengers. The main reason why most road users opt for private means is because of how unreliable the public transport services are. However, with proper coordination, there will be timely coordination of the BRT; thus, the passengers will be guaranteed convenience. Transit agencies should ensure that there is proper coordination of the large transfer centers. The local government should lead in the integration of transit planning, land use planning, and road planning, an aspect that hasn’t received much attention over the years (Times, 2018). Planning will ensure that there is allocation of sufficient space on the roads and bus stations for better coordination of transport services.
The government should also invest in transit technologies so as to improve bus services. Most of the investment and funding was given to the high-capacity rapid transit services. However, more attention should go towards improving bus services, which are the mode of transport for most transit passengers. Advanced technologies can also be utilized to improve the transit service as well as modernize the image of buses. For instance, transit agencies could provide bus information to the passengers through their cell phones, which will ensure that they have a lower perceived time and that will improve their satisfaction. Priorities should be granted to issues such as intersections, bus-only lanes, and busways, which will ensure that passengers are given more priority even in traffic (Li et al., 2021). There is a high growth in the intelligent transportation systems in the country for the transit industry, which will have a huge impact on improving transit services. The changes recommended above are sustainable and will ensure that the company has less emissions as the transport industry also adopts the use of electric buses that have less emissions.
References
China: Urban transport and climate change management – ESMAP. (n.d.). https://www.esmap.org/sites/esmap.org/files/10282009125853_ChinaUrbantransportCCPCN.pdf
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Li, J. (2021, May 11). China is trying to put the brakes on Tesla’s biggest rival. Quartz. https://qz.com/2007523/tesla-rival-hong-guang-faces-license-plate-issues-in-shanghai
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