The Beijing transport authority on Wednesday revealed it had received 306,865 personal car license applications for February's car number plate lottery, after this month's application period closed late Tuesday night.

The number increased by 96,687 from last month. More than 190,000 applications failed to obtain licenses in January's lottery.

Beijing launched the new system on Jan. 1 to control car numbers in the city. Under it, car license applications are received in the first eight days of every month, and then a lottery is held on the 26th day of each month.

Only 20,000 new license plates are issued each month in Beijing under the new license plate lottery system, or 240,000 for the year.