A newly announced quota would limit the number of new vehicles on the roads of Beijing to 20,000 a month and that has raised concerns that some people might apply for license plates even if they have no immediate plans to buy a car, the Beijing Times reported.

The new quota is intended to help ease the paralyzing traffic within the Fifth Ring Road. However, some feel the quota could force some people to apply for the limited plates just in case they decide to buy a car later.

That would make it harder for those who want to buy a car to get the plates. The plates cannot be sold to another person.

Some applicants want some sort of punitive measures against Beijingers who buy the plates and fail to use them, according to the paper.

The city of Beijing said on December 23 that it would impose a monthly quota of 20,000 for new vehicle licenses available through a monthly online lottery. The new figure would reduce the number of new vehicles to just a third of the number approved last year.

The plan has triggered a frenzy as tens of thousands of people have applied on www. bjhjyd.gov.cn, including some who do not have immediate plans to buy cars, the Beijing Times said.

Since the website opened on New Year's Eve, the capital's transportation authorities said nearly 60,000 people applied by 11 am Sunday. The number is expected to increase before the January 8 deadline.

Based on the current regulation, if the plates are not used, the non-transferable license plates would expire six months after they were approved. However, applicants might continue to apply for an extension.

Zhou Mi, a lawyer at Beijing Xiongzhi Law Firm, said that some sort of penalty for non-serious buyers is a reasonable idea. Zhou said that considering the scarcity of plates, applicants should be more prudent with their decisions.

An Internet user from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region disagreed.

"No penalty is necessary," the person wrote on sina.com. cn. "What about those people who originally planned to buy a car but suddenly could not do so due to some financial reason?"

An operator who answered the hotline at Beijing Municipal Commission of Transportation told the Global Times that such a problem could occur under the current rule and said he would report the issue to supervisors.

An unprecedented 30,000 new vehicles were registered in Beijing during the week of December 13, boosting the number of autos on the city's roads to a record 4.76 million. The plates are linked to a person's license and are required to buy a vehicle.

According to an IBM survey last year, Beijing tied with Mexico for having the world's worst traffic. Nearly 70 percent of Beijing drivers said that they had run into so much traffic that they turned around.

Under the new rule, vehicles that are not registered in Beijing will be required to obtain for a permit before entering the capital and they are restricted from entering the Fifth Ring Road during rush hour.

The rule is to supplement the current regulation that bars cars from roads on specific days of the week based on the last digit of their license plate.