A traffic jam on a section of Thai Ha street in Hanoi. (Source: Tuoitre.vn) Hanoi (VNA) - In a move to relieve traffic pressure and environmentpollution, Hanoi is considering banning motorbikes entirely by 2030, as well asother measures like fee collection in rush hours and stricter regulations on app-basedride hailing services.
Authorities are seeking public opinions on a resolution under development named‘Enhanced management of vehicles and reduction of pollution in 2017-2020period, with a vision towards 2030,’ which will be submitted to the municipalPeople’s Council for consideration soon.
Per the resolution, in 2017-2020, the city will take stock of all motorbikesand develop an emissions standard which will be used to remove outdated bikesthat fall short of environmental standards.
In 2025-2029, the city will pilot banning motorbikes in certain hours and days,on some streets or in the urban centres, moving towards a total ban in 2030,with electric bikes not exempt from the ban.
Simultaneously, the city will develop public transportation, which includeslong-term plans like urban rail system, bus rapid transit system and otherbuses.
According to Ngo Anh Tu, Director of the Science Research and Training Centreunder the municipal Department of Transport, one of the parties developing theresolution, the ban on motorbikes will be imposed in urban districts,regardless of whether the bikes are from outside or inside the city.
The ban will “surely have impacts on people’s ways of life,” so public opinionsare still being sought, he said.
A synchronised network will be put in place to ensure that every citizen canaccess public transport in a 500m radius from where they live or work, thedraft resolution reads.
Aviation economics professor Luong Hoai Nam, a frequent commenter on socialissues, is a fervent proponent of the motorbike ban.
According to Nam, the 12 to 13-year roadmap towards 2030 should provide ‘ampletime’ for the city to develop its public transport system, which will help cutthe need for private vehicles. Also, the period is long enough to settleproblems arising from the ban, including career change support for people whoselivelihood depends entirely on motorbikes and mass purchasing of outdatedmotorbikes, he added.
However, Nam rejected the authority’s choice for public transport.
He said previously, the city ‘wrongly’ put high expectations on mass rapidtransit (MRT) — urban public transit system using underground or elevatedtrains — since the system’s coverage is limited and will not be able to meetthe demands of millions of people deprived of vehicles.
The primary mode of public transport, Nam said, should be buses, developed intandem with mini buses, tramlines, traditional taxis, increasingly popularthird-party ride-hailing services like Uber and Grab, school buses and employeeshuttle buses.
Each of the components in this network will support and complement each other,lessening the dependency on private vehicles.
“The money that would go into developing 10km of MRT should be reserved forbuying 10,000 buses – both the conventional and the mini version, that is muchmore practical,” Nam said.
“Many cities in China have already banned motorbikes while forgoing a MRTsystem, as has Myanmar’s capital Yangon,” he added.
Regarding the group most likely to be harmed by a ban, small-scale vendors, Namopined that transportation of goods using motorbikes would gradually have tomove to mini trucks. Agricultural produce from rural areas or other provincesmust be brought to wholesale markets and delivered throughout the city viatrucks.
On the other side of the debate, Professor Nguyen Xuan Thuy, former Director ofTransportation Publisher, told Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaperthat traffic in Vietnam’s cities should not be blamed on motorbikes alone.
In Hanoi, public transportation can only handle 8-10 percent of public demandand at the current rate of development, in 13 years, the rate will only reachabout 20-22 per cent.
“When motorbikes are banned, what will 80 percent of the population do?” Thuyasked.
Thuy also mentioned Yangon, saying that when city authorities decided to banmotorbikes in 2003, the city quickly became flooded with old cars, whilepollution and traffic congestion remained problems.
“To curb congestion, limits must be enforced on both motorbikes and cars,” hesaid, adding these measures can only be done when public transportation meets30-40 percent of demand.
Hanoi is considering ways to alleviate traffic jams during rush hours byrestricting car access to certain streets, implementing odd-even hour vehicleban schemes, or more drastically, a city-wide adjustment of work and schoolhours. Economic measures are also on the table, including fee collection inrush hours, progressive rates for street parking (the longer a car is parked,the higher the hourly fee is), especially in downtown areas.
According to the draft legislation, Hanoi will not resort to administrativemeasures to curb the increase in cars. However, a quota scheme will be used fortaxis – both traditional ones and new services like Uber and Grab – calculatedbased on current traffic infrastructure and capacity.
Nguyen Van Thanh, Chairman of the Vietnam Automobile Transportation Assocation,said the original aim of Uber or Grab was to put ‘leisure’ cars or motorbikes inuse, under a sharing economy model. However, the number of these app-based taxishas risen dramatically, with ride-hailing taxis estimated to double the numberof traditional ones, in addition, many people bought cars to join the industry.
Thanh expressed his scepticism at quotas, saying that a quota scheme might leadto more corruption, since there will likely be under-the-table transactions forhigher quotas.
“When the conventional and app-based ride-hailing services have their clashes,the market will decide which should prevail, when the number of taxis reaches asaturation point, taxi drivers will have to adjust,” Thanh said.
Ensuring transparency in income and tax declarations is the key task in regardsto Uber and Grab, Thanh added, ensuring the rights of drivers, who, accordingto Uber, are not employees, but ‘contractors,’ and therefore may not beentitled to rights under employment law.-VNA
Authorities are seeking public opinions on a resolution under development named‘Enhanced management of vehicles and reduction of pollution in 2017-2020period, with a vision towards 2030,’ which will be submitted to the municipalPeople’s Council for consideration soon.
Per the resolution, in 2017-2020, the city will take stock of all motorbikesand develop an emissions standard which will be used to remove outdated bikesthat fall short of environmental standards.
In 2025-2029, the city will pilot banning motorbikes in certain hours and days,on some streets or in the urban centres, moving towards a total ban in 2030,with electric bikes not exempt from the ban.
Simultaneously, the city will develop public transportation, which includeslong-term plans like urban rail system, bus rapid transit system and otherbuses.
According to Ngo Anh Tu, Director of the Science Research and Training Centreunder the municipal Department of Transport, one of the parties developing theresolution, the ban on motorbikes will be imposed in urban districts,regardless of whether the bikes are from outside or inside the city.
The ban will “surely have impacts on people’s ways of life,” so public opinionsare still being sought, he said.
A synchronised network will be put in place to ensure that every citizen canaccess public transport in a 500m radius from where they live or work, thedraft resolution reads.
Aviation economics professor Luong Hoai Nam, a frequent commenter on socialissues, is a fervent proponent of the motorbike ban.
According to Nam, the 12 to 13-year roadmap towards 2030 should provide ‘ampletime’ for the city to develop its public transport system, which will help cutthe need for private vehicles. Also, the period is long enough to settleproblems arising from the ban, including career change support for people whoselivelihood depends entirely on motorbikes and mass purchasing of outdatedmotorbikes, he added.
However, Nam rejected the authority’s choice for public transport.
He said previously, the city ‘wrongly’ put high expectations on mass rapidtransit (MRT) — urban public transit system using underground or elevatedtrains — since the system’s coverage is limited and will not be able to meetthe demands of millions of people deprived of vehicles.
The primary mode of public transport, Nam said, should be buses, developed intandem with mini buses, tramlines, traditional taxis, increasingly popularthird-party ride-hailing services like Uber and Grab, school buses and employeeshuttle buses.
Each of the components in this network will support and complement each other,lessening the dependency on private vehicles.
“The money that would go into developing 10km of MRT should be reserved forbuying 10,000 buses – both the conventional and the mini version, that is muchmore practical,” Nam said.
“Many cities in China have already banned motorbikes while forgoing a MRTsystem, as has Myanmar’s capital Yangon,” he added.
Regarding the group most likely to be harmed by a ban, small-scale vendors, Namopined that transportation of goods using motorbikes would gradually have tomove to mini trucks. Agricultural produce from rural areas or other provincesmust be brought to wholesale markets and delivered throughout the city viatrucks.
On the other side of the debate, Professor Nguyen Xuan Thuy, former Director ofTransportation Publisher, told Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaperthat traffic in Vietnam’s cities should not be blamed on motorbikes alone.
In Hanoi, public transportation can only handle 8-10 percent of public demandand at the current rate of development, in 13 years, the rate will only reachabout 20-22 per cent.
“When motorbikes are banned, what will 80 percent of the population do?” Thuyasked.
Thuy also mentioned Yangon, saying that when city authorities decided to banmotorbikes in 2003, the city quickly became flooded with old cars, whilepollution and traffic congestion remained problems.
“To curb congestion, limits must be enforced on both motorbikes and cars,” hesaid, adding these measures can only be done when public transportation meets30-40 percent of demand.
Hanoi is considering ways to alleviate traffic jams during rush hours byrestricting car access to certain streets, implementing odd-even hour vehicleban schemes, or more drastically, a city-wide adjustment of work and schoolhours. Economic measures are also on the table, including fee collection inrush hours, progressive rates for street parking (the longer a car is parked,the higher the hourly fee is), especially in downtown areas.
According to the draft legislation, Hanoi will not resort to administrativemeasures to curb the increase in cars. However, a quota scheme will be used fortaxis – both traditional ones and new services like Uber and Grab – calculatedbased on current traffic infrastructure and capacity.
Nguyen Van Thanh, Chairman of the Vietnam Automobile Transportation Assocation,said the original aim of Uber or Grab was to put ‘leisure’ cars or motorbikes inuse, under a sharing economy model. However, the number of these app-based taxishas risen dramatically, with ride-hailing taxis estimated to double the numberof traditional ones, in addition, many people bought cars to join the industry.
Thanh expressed his scepticism at quotas, saying that a quota scheme might leadto more corruption, since there will likely be under-the-table transactions forhigher quotas.
“When the conventional and app-based ride-hailing services have their clashes,the market will decide which should prevail, when the number of taxis reaches asaturation point, taxi drivers will have to adjust,” Thanh said.
Ensuring transparency in income and tax declarations is the key task in regardsto Uber and Grab, Thanh added, ensuring the rights of drivers, who, accordingto Uber, are not employees, but ‘contractors,’ and therefore may not beentitled to rights under employment law.-VNA
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