Following in the footsteps of Hanoi, officials in both Da Nang and Saigon are working on plans to restrict private vehicle use by the end of the next decade.
Vietnam’s largest cities are taking major steps towards finding solutions to their traffic congestion problems. Earlier this month, Hanoi legislators approved a draft resolution to ban motorbike usage in order to reduce the capital's traffic woes.
Da Nang followed suit last week, with officials announcing restrictions on private vehicles from certain downtown streets where public transport can handle local travel demand by 2028, also in a bid to tackle gridlock.
The plan in Saigon, meanwhile, focuses on the development of public transportation accompanied by gradual restrictions on private vehicles, according to VnExpress.
The first phase of the plan involves increasing parking fees, restricting motorbike parking and imposing tolls on vehicles entering the city center. This phase of development would continue from now until 2020.
The city is currently developing its bus network and encouraging members of the public to use it, while simultaneously developing pedestrian zones, like the one on Nguyen Hue Street.
The city is also constructing a metro system as well as a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) network. The long-term plan is to restrict private vehicles in tandem with the opening of new public transportation options, and to eventually ban motorbikes from downtown streets and congestion-prone areas of the city.
Da Nang officials have announced that the city will take similar but more drastic measures to cut down on traffic and air pollution. Authorities in the central city have announced a ban on private vehicles along downtown streets as part of an effort to stop issuing licenses for new motorbikes altogether by 2028, according to VnExpress.
The US$6 billion plan was approved last Friday, although it is unclear exactly which roads the ban will affect. The boulevards running along both sides of the Han River were the only ones specified, and the ban would at first be implemented during the evening.
That three-phase plan, which will stretch out to 2025 and beyond, will include the creation of pedestrian-only zones in downtown Da Nang, as well as stricter building restrictions to prevent overcrowding.
The construction of new hospitals and schools in the center of the city will also be halted, as will the expansion of existing facilities. Warehouses and buildings that are heavily trafficked, meanwhile, will be moved to outlying areas. Public transportation options will also be increased and expanded in order to facilitate people traveling within the city limits, VnExpress added.
Da Nang currently has a population of 1.1 million people, along with 65,000 cars and around 800,000 motorbikes. The city's population is projected to increase to 2.5 million by 2030, according to studies run by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, VOV reports.
[Photo via Motorvina]
