Hanoi’s authorities are considering a ban on the use of motorbikes in the city centre by 2025 in an attempt to improve the city’s infrastructure.

Hanoi to limit personal vehicles

The issue was discussed on June 27 at a meeting on developing urban infrastructure and tightening the management over construction, land, the environment, and urban development for the city during the 2016-2025 period.

In order to encourage people to use public transport and limit personal vehicles, the authorities are considering a motorbike ban in the city centre. The city authorities will co-operate with the Ministry of Transport to quickly implement key constructions and upgrade bus stations. Two urban railways will be put into use soon.

Vu Cao Minh, party secretary of Thanh Xuan District suggested adding another goal to reduce the use of electric bikes. He said if motorbikes were banned then people could use electric bikes instead and the number of private vehicles would not be reduced.

According to Minh, Hanoi can take advantages of the existing river system, which is being heavily polluted, to ease traffic on the streets. If many of the rivers such as To Lich or Kim Nguu can be cleaned, the city can protect the environment as well as creating new limited inland waterways.

Solutions to limit personal vehicles have been discussed for many years but nothing concrete has been achieved. According to the statistics from the traffic police, 183,000 new vehicles were registered in the first eight months last year, pushing the total number of vehicles in the city up to 5.5 million. There are also many vehicles from other provinces. Hanoi Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung predicted that the city would have one million cars and seven million motorbikes by 2020.

Last year, a VND2.2trn (USD100m) plan was approved to tackle congestion and a fund of VND700m was established to reduce private vehicles.

In April, the United Nations General Assembly announced Resolution A/RES/70/260 about improving the global safety and the action plan of Vietnam, stating that by 2020, Vietnam must reduce 50% the number of injured people and fatalities in road accidents and everyone must have access to public transports by 2030.