A bicycle station of the Public Bike Sharing System launches in Hue city. (Photo courtesy of Thua Thien Hue provincial People's Committee) The pilot project uses 80 bicycles for seven stations in the inner city anddestinations along the Huong River in the first phase before expanding to 19 or20 stations with a total of 500 bicycles in 2023.
The cycling promotion project will help visitors and local residents to accesspublic bicycles and a safe cycling environment in the wider smart city conceptin supporting Hue to be a low-carbon urban centre.
It is also expected to contribute to improving the physical and mental healthand quality of life of residents and conserve Hue, a UNESCO-recognised worldheritage site and tourist attraction.
Public bike-sharing is an important part of an urban mobility transformationthat links industry 4.0 technologies and sustainable development. It not onlycontributes significantly to emissions reduction in the transport sector andthe resulting improvement in air quality but also improves the convenience andquality of public transport services for residents and visitors.
Public bike-sharing also helps commuters connect with public buses and vehiclesconveniently while promoting public transport.
Hoi An city and Wernigerode, its twin town in Germany, plan to develop an 'ecoroad' that will promote bicycling in 'green' tourism destinations from the OldQuarter to An Bang beach.
The 5km, which reserved a bicycle lane, offers a rural experience and eco-toursites of Tra Que vegetable garden zone, Cam Thanh nipa palm, and An Bang beach.
The two cities have boosted cultural cooperation by providing a solar-poweredsystem for public lighting, loudspeakers, and lanterns in Hoi An from 2019.
Hoi An, a UNESCO-recognised World Heritage city, hopes to encourage the use of100,000 bicycles among residents.
Since 2002, the tourism hub has assigned several streets for pedestrian andnon-engined vehicles to reduce noise and pollution in the Old Quarter. Mostforeign tourists use bicycles for touring the city, beaches and villages.
The city became the first locality in the country to host a Car Free Day. Ithas also been praised for its efforts to ban plastic bags and its 3R (reduce,re-use and recycle) programme.
A pilot bicycle sharing system was also launched in Hoi An, in cooperation withGIZ, Hoi An and Health Bridge Canada in 2019, encouraging residents to movefrom petrol power to pedal power in the UNESCO-recognised World Heritage Site.
Hue and Hoi An were beneficiaries of the programme 'Promote and Pilot a PublicBike-Sharing (PBS) Scheme in Vietnam towards Sustainable Urban Mobility andSmart Cities' with funding from the German Federal Ministry of EconomicCooperation and Development (BMZ)./.
VNA
