Vietnamese consider banning bicycles in Hanoi as motorcycles threaten to overrun capital
Locals insist the economy would grind to a halt if they are denied a mode of transport they’ve grown up using.
World famous for its endless swarms of motorcycles, Vietnam is considering banning bikes in the capital over fears its leafy streets will become overrun as the population swells and its middle class buys up cars in record numbers.
Hanoi is forecast to have seven million motorcycles on its roads in the next two years – almost the same as its current population – leaving city bigwigs with a crisis on their hands as cars, buses and bikes jostle and petrified pedestrians run the gauntlet crossing streets.
The Communist Party’s Hanoi chapter started polling on Monday ahead of a new urban plan and central to that is making the capital’s motorcycles extinct by 2025, according to Voice of Vietnam radio.
But it hasn’t gone down well with bikers, who say the economy would grind to a halt if Hanoians were denied a mode of transport they’ve grown up with and use to ferry around anything from beer crates and cooking gas tanks to rice sacks and small families.
“It’s impossible. It will cause difficulties for bureaucrats, employers, students and traders,” said Pham Van Chinh, a motor-taxi driver.