A traffic jam appears in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, during the National Day holiday, Sept. 30, 2014. (Photo : Getty Images)
The southern Chinese city of Shenzhen is introducing a carpool lane exclusively for vehicles with at least one passenger during rush hour on working days.
The high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane is set to open on Binhai Road, a freeway connecting Shenzhen's Nanshan and Futian Districts, the city's traffic authorities told the Global Times on Tuesday.
The HOV lane is open to small vehicles with no more than nine seats carrying at least two occupants, including the driver, from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on working days, the Global Times said in its report citing police officials. Passengers of at least 12 years in age must also sit in the front seat.
Trial operations are slated to begin on April 18 before the lane officially opens to the public on April 25, the report said.
Tickets cost 300 yuan ($46), while violations committed while driving in the lane will be recorded on the personal credit records of the drivers and will affect areas such as employment and obtaining a loan, according to police.
Current traffic flow on Binhai Road is estimated to be around 7,000 passenger cars per hour at peak hours, with around 74.2 percent of vehicles carrying only the driver.
First introduced in the United States in the late 1960s, HOV lanes have been widely adopted in many countries including Canada, Australia and New Zealand but are a rare sight in China.
Shenzhen, which is located in Guangdong Province and borders Hong Kong, is home to more than 3 million vehicles. According to government officials, 70 percent of the city's air pollution is caused by the large volume of vehicles traveling through the city each day.
The city government previously implemented a car purchasing restriction system in late 2014, which requires prospective buyers to acquire new car plates via lottery or auction, in an attempt to curb rising congestion and pollution.
