Cars - Shanghai's licence plate bidding under fire

A fierce debate is emerging in Shanghai media about the long-standing method of Shanghai to limit the number of cars in the city: by selling a limited number of license plates through a bidding process.
According to an official of the Ministry of Commerce in an interview on CCTV this method is illegal since on May a new law on traffic security has come into force. The bidding has often triggered off the emotions in Shanghai, for example when Shanghai started to stop neighboring provincies and regions to issue cheap plates for Shanghainese.
Limiting the number of license plates is the only way to restrain the already unbearable traffic deadlock in the city. When the government is no longer allow to organize the bidding, it will most likely go underground and might even end up in the hands of criminal organizations.
Chinabiz has a poll about the debate.