According to Bui Danh Lien, Chairman of the Hanoi Transport Association, motorbikes should not be restricted from central areas of large cities because it could affect the lives of many people.

He said that plans to restrict private vehicles in big cities should be limited to cars, and only during certain hours and on main streets with many buses routes.

“At least from now until 2015, it would be impossible for authorities to ban private vehicles because it would require a clear road map that could inform drivers of prohibited roads and the fines that driving them would entail," he said.

“Currently, many private vehicles do not have registered owners because the people who sell them use methods such as authority grants and notarised asset mortgages, instead of going through the legal transfer process.They do this to avoid registration fees. It would be impossible for the Ministry of Public Security to complete checks on ownership of vehicles in the next year, and this would pose obvious difficulties on imposing fines for falsely registered vehicles," he said.

He also emphasised the necessity of defining which kind of vehicles are considered private. Cars belonging to private companies and hospitals both have white license plates. Taxis are also a problem because they are not a for of public transport.

The regulations, he said, should be revised to deal with the real current situation, in which sellers of vehicles do not go through the steps of legally transferring the vehicle. He said that such a programme could be designed between 2013-2015 for implementation.

Chip installation is also under consideration, but poses its own difficulties. Although chips could be used to accurately impose fines, it would require each owner to have an established bank account as well as management agencies capable of keeping track of registered vehicles.

He further suggested that the Ministry of Transport set up a taskforce to study the project carefully before it is implemented.

Recently, Associate Pr. Dr. Nguyen Quang Toan, former Head of the Road Department, under the University of Transport and Communications, said, "Many poor people use older vehicles as a way to earn their living, and banning their use could have a large impact on this class."