The National Traffic Safety Committee’s plan to encourage people to use bicycles to reduce congestion has been deemed impractical by several experts.

Khuat Viet Hung, vice chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee discussed the issue at the Promotion of Public Multi-point Bike Sharing Model conference in Hanoi on September 28.

The Promotion of Public Multi-point Bike Sharing Model conference held in Hanoi

Hung said using bicycles has many benefits. Not only is it environmentally-friendly, but it can also help reduce congestion and raise traffic safety in big cities when it is used in conjunction with public transport. Most people in Hanoi only use bicycles to exercise or sightseeing. Hung said bicycles would be the ideal transport for tourists, students and workers to use on daily basis.

"It looks like in Vietnam, people consider the car the symbol of prosperity and richness and the bicycle is only for the poor. But in many cities like London or Paris, despite having huge metro train systems, they are turning back to bicycles, popularising the bicycle again because it can be a solution to congestion," he said.

He went on to say that he went to work by bicycle and got strange looks from co-workers, but he was fine. He claimed it was the right project to limit the amount of motorbikes in Hanoi.

Pupil goes to school by bicycle

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Hanoi Railway Transport Company Vu Hong Truong said bicycles should only remain in a small number.

"Hanoi doesn't have lanes for bicycles so we have to think very carefully when and where to use them. If bicycles are to be used en mass now, we'll end up with more congestion. The authorities should only encourage people to switch to bicycles once in a while," he said.

Nguyen Xuan Thuy, former director of the Transportation Publishing House, agreed and said it's impossible to make bicycles a main mode of transport.

He said, "Many people can't use bicycles to travel from the suburbs to the city centre to work. Only a few office workers with high salaries are using bicycles, about 60-70% of the people have to depend on motorbikes."

Thuy estimated that at the earliest of 2025 to 2030, when the infrastructure will be more completed with urban railway and rapid buses that bicycles could be used more widely.