Car curbs drive licence plate prices to S$42,000 in Beijing

[yawnyawn]

The difference is that in Singapore, the money goes to the state coffer; but in Beijing it enriches a few lucky persons. No prize for guessing which one I prefer.

I always think that the money from the auctioning of the car plates goes to the Beijing municipal government coffers, does it not?

I have been to Beijing and one thing i am amazed is that they managed to implement a flat fare of 2 RMB for MRT travels in Beijing. They also have more MRT lines as compared to Singapore. Moreover, since they trains and tracks are relatively new compared to Singapore, they don't jerk and accelerate as bad as ours!

The low fare is made possible by annual subsidies of about ¥2 billion by the Beijing Municipal Government for subway operations, or about ¥0.81 (USD0.13) per ride.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_Subway