"It's a bit late to ban motorbikes in big cities"

The Department of Transport is working with the Ministry of Transport’s Strategy Institute to research and develop a project on traffic management, in which it is expected that by 2030 one of two routes will be selected: Le Van Luong or Nguyen Trai to pilot the ban on motorbikes. In response to the above information, many experts and people have expressed their support and disagreement.

And Doctor of Economics Luong Hoai Nam discussed this content as follows:

Doctor of Economics Luong Hoai Nam

PV: What is your opinion on the project to limit personal vehicles to reduce traffic congestion in Hanoi, expected to be implemented by 2030?

Dr. Luong Hoai Nam:I am a member of the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Transport Advisory Council, which is also considering a similar urban transport improvement project to Hanoi. I personally support the project that the Hanoi People's Committee and People's Council approved in 2017, with hundreds of work items to be implemented from now until 2030 - the time when motorbikes will be completely eliminated in Hanoi's inner city.

I closely follow the implementation of these solutions in Hanoi to see if there is anything good that can be recommended to Ho Chi Minh City. Banning motorbikes on some streets such as Le Van Luong and Nguyen Trai is just the first step so that public transport can operate effectively on those streets, and at the same time, let people see with their own eyes what the streets would be like without motorbikes.

Hanoi in 2030, when there are no more motorbikes, will be a very different Hanoi, more modern, civilized, and much safer (traffic, air, living environment, landscape, urban order, etc.).

Reporter: Hanoi plans to ban motorbikes on Nguyen Trai or Le Van Luong streets 2-3 years before the project is implemented. However, many people are concerned that banning motorbikes will cause difficulties in moving around, especially for households living in deep alleys?

Dr. Luong Hoai Nam:People in deep alleys can go to the main streets by small vehicles, by bicycle, if it is less than 1 km, they can walk. I lived in Europe for nearly 10 years, without a car, without a motorbike, walking a few km every day. Sometimes I also use public transport (bus, train). Most people there also live like that, no car, no motorbike, only know public transport.

My children live in Singapore too, they don't have cars or motorbikes. The bus and train stations are about 1 km from home and work, which is normal, we walk, if it's further we use bicycles. In Yangon (Myanmar) there are tuk tuks. In Hong Kong there are minibuses...

Nguyen Trai Street - Hanoi has traffic jams during rush hour

Reporter: Does public transport in Hanoi currently meet people's needs, sir?

Dr. Luong Hoai Nam:Public transport is currently very poor, in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, meeting only about 10% of the travel needs of the people. Motorbikes have destroyed public transport. Hanoi has had trams since the French colonial period.

We try to develop buses, but buses no longer have clear roads to run fast, in large numbers, and safely. Buses also do not have enough passengers to sell tickets and do business effectively when more than 80% of people travel by motorbike. Subways are too expensive, and nowhere chooses subways as the main means of public transport.

PV: Many countries in the world have banned motorbikes for a long time, but Hanoi is just now finalizing the project and preparing to implement it. Is it too late, sir?

Dr. Luong Hoai Nam:The most successful ban on motorbikes and urban modernization is in China. Not only big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou ban motorbikes, but also small cities, towns, and villages near the Vietnam border.

It is a bit late for us to start banning motorbikes now when the number of motorbikes is already too large. In 1996, the whole country had only 4 million motorbikes, but now there are nearly 60 million. When cheap motorbikes from China flooded into Vietnam in the late 90s, forcing Japanese motorbikes to drop in price and "popularizing motorbikes" to suit the budget of many families. At that time, China had already started banning motorbikes in big cities. The national traffic plan established in 2013 set a target of having 36 million motorbikes by 2020. But now, we have exceeded that by nearly 2 times with nearly 60 million motorbikes.

PV: You have traveled to many countries around the world and learned a lot about traffic, so how do they implement the motorbike ban and what is the roadmap?

Dr. Luong Hoai Nam:This depends on the size of each city. Large cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City need a metro network as their backbone, which takes a long time, about 10-15 years. Guangzhou started to “tighten” motorbikes in the early 90s, and banned them on January 1, 2007 (except for motorbikes used by the military, police, and post office).

At that time, Guangzhou only had a few subway lines. Motorbikes were “tightened” and gradually reduced over the years. At the time of the ban, the whole of Guangzhou only had about 400,000 motorbikes (less than 1/10 of the number of motorbikes in Hanoi today), so it was not too shocking for the people. I think the 2030 target is suitable for Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Other cities, if they want to do it, will need less time, because they do not need to invest in subways. It will only take about 5 years to do it.

PV: Thank you!