Hanoi’s new utopia: No more motorcycles by 2025
Vietnam’s capital Hanoi in a radical step presented a concept of completely banning the ubiquitous motorcycles clogging its streets by 2025, a move that is one of the main goals of the master development and modernisation plan of the city in the next ten years, the so-called “Program 06.”
If the situation is left unchanged and current vehicle growth rates sustain, the city will have to deal with seven million motorbikes in the next five years alone, authorities said, and on top of that one million cars which would make the traffic situation in Hanoi “extremely complicated.” The city as a current total population of 7.6 million.
Program 06 sets a target of limiting the number of individual vehicles – both motorbikes and passenger cars – by 2020 to reduce congestion, with a further goal of making inner-city traffic completely free of motorbikes by 2025, according to a government website.
In turn, the Hanoi administration said it will focus on improving the city’s infrastructure by building more tunnels, highways, bridges, bus stations and parking lots to contribute to reduced traffic pressure. It also plans two new urban railway systems.
However, officials understand that a complete ban on motorbikes is a “tough goal to reach,” newswire VietNamNet reported, adding that individual vehicles in the city would not only include conventional motorbikes, but also electric bicycles and other types of motorcycles. Thus, a target of cutting 50 per cent from the number of personal vehicles by 2025 seems a more feasible goal, an official was quoted as saying.
Aside from causing traffic gridlocks, Hanoi’s traffic jams are also a major contributor to the city’s deteriorating air quality. In March, official data showed that pollution had reached “hazardous” levels, although the environment ministry played down media suggestions that Hanoi’s air was getting as bad as that of Beijing.
Vietnam's capital Hanoi in a radical step presented a concept of completely banning the ubiquitous motorcycles clogging its streets by 2025, a move that is one of the main goals of the master development and modernisation plan of the city in the next ten years, the so-called "Program 06." If the situation is left unchanged and current vehicle growth rates sustain, the city will have to deal with seven million motorbikes in the next five years alone, authorities said, and on top of that one million cars which would make the traffic situation in Hanoi "extremely complicated." The city as...
Vietnam’s capital Hanoi in a radical step presented a concept of completely banning the ubiquitous motorcycles clogging its streets by 2025, a move that is one of the main goals of the master development and modernisation plan of the city in the next ten years, the so-called “Program 06.”
If the situation is left unchanged and current vehicle growth rates sustain, the city will have to deal with seven million motorbikes in the next five years alone, authorities said, and on top of that one million cars which would make the traffic situation in Hanoi “extremely complicated.” The city as a current total population of 7.6 million.
Program 06 sets a target of limiting the number of individual vehicles – both motorbikes and passenger cars – by 2020 to reduce congestion, with a further goal of making inner-city traffic completely free of motorbikes by 2025, according to a government website.
In turn, the Hanoi administration said it will focus on improving the city’s infrastructure by building more tunnels, highways, bridges, bus stations and parking lots to contribute to reduced traffic pressure. It also plans two new urban railway systems.
However, officials understand that a complete ban on motorbikes is a “tough goal to reach,” newswire VietNamNet reported, adding that individual vehicles in the city would not only include conventional motorbikes, but also electric bicycles and other types of motorcycles. Thus, a target of cutting 50 per cent from the number of personal vehicles by 2025 seems a more feasible goal, an official was quoted as saying.
Aside from causing traffic gridlocks, Hanoi’s traffic jams are also a major contributor to the city’s deteriorating air quality. In March, official data showed that pollution had reached “hazardous” levels, although the environment ministry played down media suggestions that Hanoi’s air was getting as bad as that of Beijing.
