Han Ximin

    ximhan@126.com

    SHENZHEN introduced its first high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane, or carpool lane, on a main road yesterday. Vehicles are required to have at least one passenger during rush hour on work days when using the lane.

    The lane is the furthest left lane on the section between the Baishi Overpass on Binhai Boulevard and Xiasha Footbridge on Binhe Road. It is separated from other lanes by a dotted green line.

    Vehicles with no more than nine seats must carry at least two people, including the driver, in order to drive in the lane from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., and from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on work days.

    During the trial period, police will send text messages to drivers who illegally drive in the lane.

    “The passenger doesn’t need to sit in the front seat of the car,” traffic police said in a news release yesterday.

    Research on how many people ride in vehicles and the amount of traffic will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the new measure, police said.

    Police also changed original plans to impose fines on violators starting from April 25. The date for imposing fines hasn’t been decided yet.

    According to traffic rules, violators could be fined 300 yuan (US$47.6) and get three penalty points. In addition, the violation will be recorded in the personal credit system, which will affect areas such as employment and obtaining a loan.

    Since HOV lanes were first introduced in the United States in the late 1960s, they have been adopted by many countries, including Canada, Australia and New Zealand. They are rare in China.

    Traffic flow on the Binhai Boulevard is nearly 7,000 passenger cars per hour at peak hours, with around 74 percent of vehicles carrying only the driver. Police hope the introduction of the new measure will relieve traffic, reduce pollution, and improve road efficiency.

    Shenzhen has more than 3 million vehicles. Vehicles have become the largest source of pollutants and are responsible for 60 percent of the city’s air pollution, according to the city government.

    To tackle rising congestion and pollution, the city enacted a car purchase restriction system in late 2014, requiring prospective buyers to acquire new car plates by lottery or auction.