**2.1 Beijing**

*Sustainability in Urban Planning and Design*

*to 2014. Source: Compiled based on data provided by [4].*

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**Figure 2.**

*data provided by [7].*

**Figure 1.**

national average of 122 per 1000 persons (see **Figure 2**).3

this comparison is made with other provinces rather than cities.

ownership is less than countries such as Swaziland, El Salvador, Honduras, Guyana and Azerbaijan [5]. These levels are nowhere near the car ownership levels found

*Private ownership of passenger cars per 1000 people across China in 2017 (unit). Source: Compiled based on* 

*Private ownership of passenger cars per 1000 people in China (unit) and its annual growth rate (%) from 1995* 

<sup>3</sup> Beijing and Shanghai are two of the four municipalities directly under the central government. Hence,

This national level of car

Beijing, like all Chinese cities, was dominated by bicycling in the twentieth century and as shown in **Figure 3** had over 60% of daily trips by cycling in 1986, but this quickly was overtaken by a rapid growth in car use; these modes crossed in 2005, and from there a different story emerges that would have been expected in a rapidly emerging global city. Car use begins to plateau in the 2000s and starts declining since 2011. The growth trajectory that then takes over is transit as cycling continues to fall but then plateaus or rises slightly perhaps due to e-bikes as seen in the data below on Shanghai.

The Beijing transit system is shown by mode in **Figure 4**. The dramatic growth after 2007 that has impacted so strongly on modal share with cars is the role of the metro that continues to grow significantly right through to the most recent data. Beijing was the first city in China to inaugurate metro rail into its transport infrastructure, with the first line opening in 1969 [9]. This development was further pursued and received a promotional boost leading up to the 2008 Olympic Games held in Beijing [10]. The metro has been expanded ever since and has been embraced by the residents of Beijing with a daily patronage of around 9 million using the fast, high-quality system. This follows the rapid expansion of Beijing's metro system from an operational length of 142 km in 2007 to 555 km by 2015. Beijing's metro is now the second largest after Shanghai (588 km) in China [11, 12]. The metro has become a significant transport mode, though the traditional bus is still the predominant travel choice of public transport. As this is measured in boardings, it would be more favourable to the metro if passenger kilometres were used as bus trips tend to be shorter.

#### **2.2 Shanghai**

Shanghai transport data are different to Beijing as they include walking as well as e-bikes besides bicycling in the modal split as set out in **Figure 5**. But like

<sup>4</sup> Shanghai has adopted the Singapore-style paid auction system to limit new car registration since 1994. The number of quotas issued to public applicants is less than 10,000 every month. The average bid price soared up to 5040 US Dollars in 2008.

**Figure 3.**

*Model split of daily trips (excluding walking) in Beijing (1986–2014) (%). Source: Compiled based on data provided by [8].*

#### **Figure 4.**

*Share of annual patronage by different public transit modes in Beijing from 1998 to 2017(%). Source: Compiled based on data provided by [13, 14].*

#### **Figure 5.**

*Modal split of daily trips by different transport modes in the whole city of Shanghai from 1986 to 2010 (%). Source: Compiled based on data provided by [15, 16].*

Beijing, Shanghai was dominated by walking and non-motorized (bicycles and e-bikes) transport in the twentieth century with over 70% of daily trips by these modes in the 1980s and 1990s. However, as in Beijing, the twenty-first century has seen a dramatic drop in these modes as car use began to grow in Shanghai. Then a plateau in car use began in the 2000s and by 2010 had peaked at less than 20% of daily trips (even lower than the 34% in Beijing). Again it would appear that transit has stemmed this car growth, though nonmotorised transport has had more growth in the latest data as well. More interesting, e-bikes have replaced bicycles as the dominant nonmotorised transport modes in China, which was well-known as the "Bicycle Kingdom" in the middle of 1980s. The actual bicycle use per day in

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*The Rise and Decline of Car Use in Beijing and Shanghai DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90130*

Shanghai has decreased 70% from 2009 to 2014, while there is a sharp increase in

*Share of annual patronage by different public transit modes in Shanghai from 1995 to 2015 (%). Source:* 

**Figure 6** sets out the transit data by mode in Shanghai; this again indicates

the 1980s, the trolley bus and bus were the main transit modes in Shanghai. The Shanghai metro began in 1993 but was quite small until it was extended for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. It is now the world's largest rapid transit system by route length and second largest by number of stations with 14 lines and 364 stations and a total length of 588 km. On an average workday, it carries 10 million passengers,

While private vehicle ownership in both Beijing and Shanghai is still increasing, actual automobile use as measured by modal split has in fact started declining since around 2011. Beijing went further along the automobile path than Shanghai, but both turned dramatically once a quality metro alternative was provided. Shanghai also continues to have a very high walking and nonmotorised component in its transport system (over 50% of daily trips). Both Beijing and Shanghai have much less private motorisation than would have been expected due to their rapid growth

From the 1970s through to the beginning of

actual use of electric bicycles by 68% during the same period.

while the record patronage was 11.3 million on April 1, 2016.

in income like other developed cities in Canada, Australia and America.

**3. Contributors to the decline of car use in Beijing and Shanghai**

Economic factors can play a more significant role in determining automobile ownership compared to actual usage due to differences in land use intensity [18]. However, most models for car use growth still assume it is driven by economic growth, especially in developing economies. Unlike automobile ownership, the actual need for automobile use has been shown to have decoupled from the financial capacity to pay for it; for example, the amount of car driving per unit of real gross domestic product (GDP) significantly declined between 1995 and 2005 in a large sample of world cities [19, 20]. Taking Beijing as an example, **Figure 7**, which depicts

<sup>5</sup> The sharp decrease in daily patronage by trolley bus and bus in the year of 1996 is largely due to the

cancellation of monthly pass in 1995 and bus system reform in 1996.

the dramatic growth of the metro.5

*Compiled based on data provided by [17].*

**Figure 6.**

**3.1 Economic factors**

*The Rise and Decline of Car Use in Beijing and Shanghai DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90130*

#### **Figure 6.**

*Sustainability in Urban Planning and Design*

**282**

**Figure 4.**

**Figure 3.**

*provided by [8].*

**Figure 5.**

*based on data provided by [13, 14].*

*Source: Compiled based on data provided by [15, 16].*

Beijing, Shanghai was dominated by walking and non-motorized (bicycles and e-bikes) transport in the twentieth century with over 70% of daily trips by these modes in the 1980s and 1990s. However, as in Beijing, the twenty-first century has seen a dramatic drop in these modes as car use began to grow in Shanghai. Then a plateau in car use began in the 2000s and by 2010 had peaked at less than 20% of daily trips (even lower than the 34% in Beijing). Again it would appear that transit has stemmed this car growth, though nonmotorised transport has had more growth in the latest data as well. More interesting, e-bikes have replaced bicycles as the dominant nonmotorised transport modes in China, which was well-known as the "Bicycle Kingdom" in the middle of 1980s. The actual bicycle use per day in

*Modal split of daily trips by different transport modes in the whole city of Shanghai from 1986 to 2010 (%).* 

*Share of annual patronage by different public transit modes in Beijing from 1998 to 2017(%). Source: Compiled* 

*Model split of daily trips (excluding walking) in Beijing (1986–2014) (%). Source: Compiled based on data* 

*Share of annual patronage by different public transit modes in Shanghai from 1995 to 2015 (%). Source: Compiled based on data provided by [17].*

Shanghai has decreased 70% from 2009 to 2014, while there is a sharp increase in actual use of electric bicycles by 68% during the same period.

**Figure 6** sets out the transit data by mode in Shanghai; this again indicates the dramatic growth of the metro.5 From the 1970s through to the beginning of the 1980s, the trolley bus and bus were the main transit modes in Shanghai. The Shanghai metro began in 1993 but was quite small until it was extended for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. It is now the world's largest rapid transit system by route length and second largest by number of stations with 14 lines and 364 stations and a total length of 588 km. On an average workday, it carries 10 million passengers, while the record patronage was 11.3 million on April 1, 2016.

While private vehicle ownership in both Beijing and Shanghai is still increasing, actual automobile use as measured by modal split has in fact started declining since around 2011. Beijing went further along the automobile path than Shanghai, but both turned dramatically once a quality metro alternative was provided. Shanghai also continues to have a very high walking and nonmotorised component in its transport system (over 50% of daily trips). Both Beijing and Shanghai have much less private motorisation than would have been expected due to their rapid growth in income like other developed cities in Canada, Australia and America.
