Opinion divided over car-plate lottery rule

Beijing will amend its car-plate lottery regulations to make the system fairer to those who have entered for a long time but never won, a move that has garnered divided responses from experts, the Beijing News reported.

Liu Xiaoming, director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport, said Thursday on a radio program that certain measures could be introduced next year, favoring those who had been waiting in the lottery pool for an inordinately long period.

Luo Lei, deputy secretary-general of the China Automobile Dealers Association, the only national organization representing the industry, said the rule change violates the notion of fairness, as a long period of waiting doesn't always indicate urgent demand.

But Wang Jiangyan, a transportation expert, said it is fair to give more chances to long-time lottery participants, even if the change may cause people to participate in the lottery earlier for higher probability.

Another expert Duan Liren also supports the change. People who have applied for vehicle registrations since the very beginning should be given preference, said Duan.