Will motorbikes in downtown Saigon be a thing of the past in eight years?

VnExpress reports that the central government has tasked the leaders of Saigon, Hanoi, Hải Phòng, Đà Nẵng and Cần Thơ with creating plans to reduce motorbike use in the five cities from 2030.

These are the biggest urban areas in Vietnam, and their governments must find ways to restrict or fully ban motorbikes from central districts by the end of this decade. Officials have also been advised to create congestion charges for cars in certain areas in order to reduce traffic and pollution.

As part of these efforts, each city must create policies aimed at prioritizing mass transit so that public transport can account for up to 35% of travel demand by 2030. 

Municipal leaders should also put resources towards eliminating chronic congestion points where traffic jams last for more than 30 minutes, and only approve high-rise buildings and shopping malls if they are linked with major roads. 

Last December, Hanoi's government said that it intends to ban motorbikes in districts within the city's third ring road after 2025, while officials in Saigon have also discussed similar proposals in the past. 

These have received mixed reactions, with experts noting that the capital can only ban motorbikes if it is able to quickly add substantially more public transit options than the ones that are currently available. The Cát Linh-Hà Đông metro line, for example, can only meet about 5% of Hanoi's travel demand, and other routes are delayed.

Saigon, meanwhile, has no operating metro lines, with the Bến Thành-Suối Tiên line potentially opening in late 2023, and no other routes currently under construction. 

Both cities have well over 5 million motorbikes on their roads on a daily basis.