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Travel mode choice and impact of fuel tax in Beijing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 May 2013

Ping Qin ,
Xinye Zheng  and
Lanlan Wang
Ping Qin
Affiliation:
School of Economics, Renmin University of China, China. E-mail: pingqin2009@gmail.com
Xinye Zheng
Affiliation:
School of Economics, Renmin University of China, China. E-mail: zhengxinye@ruc.edu.cn
Lanlan Wang
Affiliation:
China Academy of Public Finance and Public Policy, Central University of Finance and Economics, Academic Building 822, Beijing, China100081. Tel: 86-10-62288202. E-mail: lanlanwa@gmail.com
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Abstract

As an international metropolitan area undergoing rapid development, Beijing is facing a sharp rise in the volume of motor vehicles and mobility, which has become the major contributor to the air pollution in this city. This is evident in the recent ranking of Beijing as the most congested as well as the most polluted city in the world by the Millennium Cities Database. Local government has adopted a battery of policies to reduce these problems. In this study, we investigate the impact of increasing the fuel tax on travel mode choice based on a large sample of travel survey data. We estimate that if the price of gasoline increased to a moderate level, 11.53 RMB/liter, the total car volume on the road would be reduced by 7 per cent, which corresponds to a reduction in CO2 emissions of 786,002.4 tons, or about 8 per cent of vehicular emissions from private cars and company-owned cars in Beijing.

Type
Research Article
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 19 , Special Issue 1: China's Environmental Policy , February 2014 , pp. 92 - 110
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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