During the evening of March 25, Hangzhou announced the issue of new car licenses would be restricted the following day to fight air pollution and traffic congestion, making it the sixth Chinese city to introduce a car plate quota policy.

Hangzhou will restrict the number of plates issued every year to 80,000, and issue new plates via an auction and lottery.

Among the other five cities, Beijing and Guiyang issue plates through a lottery system, while Shanghai employs a bidding procedure, and Guangzhou and Tianjin adopt both systems.

Ren Kefei, secretary-general of Nanjing Automobile Association, said restrictions on the issue of license plates are not the best way to solve problems of traffic and air quality.

"It's the easiest way for government to restrict the issue to limit the numbers of vehicles," said Ren. "But it's better for local governments to develop public transport, introduce environmentally friendly petrol products, promote vehicles using clean energy and improve the quality of roads. It's not the right moment for the Nanjing government to restrict the issue of registration plates because the city traffic is not as bad as the five cities that have already imposed restrictions. Most of the time traffic congestion only appears during peak hours."

According to Nanjing's vehicle management bureau, the city now has more than 1.8 million registered vehicles. It said that the number may exceed 2 million by August, which indicates that, like Beijing, one in four residents in Nanjing will own a car.

According to the Nanjing meteorological center, in 2013, the city experienced about 250 smoggy days. In December, all kindergartens, primary and middle schools suspended classes because of heavy air pollution.

However, local government said it has no plans to curb car ownership immediately. Miao Ruilin, mayor of Nanjing, said during an interview that the city has not considered restrictions on the issue of registration plates and that any measures taken will involve the development of public transport and parking lots.

"Imposing plate quotas is not fair to people who don't own a car," said Ma Zhendong, a 54-year-old teacher living in the city's Jianye district. "The government should take more responsibility in fighting traffic problems and air pollution. Any quota should be a last measure, not the first to be imposed."

Hangzhou: New plate restrictions

Beijing cuts number of new cars