Hanoi moves to ban bikes

Around seven million people live in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, where the streets are dominated by approximately five million scooters and small-capacity motorcycles. Cheap to buy and cheap to run, bikes and scooters are the favoured means of transport in the growing city, but a recent decision by Hanoi authorities promises to change the face of the metropolis forever.

Officials recently voted almost unanimously in favour of banning scooter and motorcycles from the city by 2030, reports news agency Reuters, in an effort to rein in traffic congestion and curb air pollution.

It's a tall order indeed for a city to eliminate its prime means of transport, especially so given Hanoi has no metro train system and its bus network currently accounts for only 12 per cent of citizens' travel needs. In stark contrast with Australia's capital cities, private cars are relatively rare – there's only half a million of them in Hanoi.

However, Hanoi's officials have pondered the ban for several years now, and it seems the city has reached something of a breaking point.

Reuters reports that 95 out of 96 city councillors voted to pass the ban, with a report on the city's government website claiming that vehicles numbers were growing at a rapid rate.

Scooters and motorcycles are expected to grow to in excess of six million vehicles in the next few years, with a single scooters commonly used by locals as transport for the entire family, not to mention the delivery of goods.

Hanoi has more registered scooters and motorcycles than any city in South East Asia, so shifting the city's focus to a public-transport-based system will be a monumental challenge, to say the least, and especially for a populace used to pulling up and parking right next to their destination.

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