Hanoi withdraws proposal to recall old motorbikes by 2018

Hanoi's transport department won't be including a motorbike recall in its upcoming proposal to manage traffic vehicles. 

Following comments from the public, head of the city's urban department Nguyen Nguyen Quan said the recall needs more thorough research. 

The proposal originally set out to review over 5 million motorbikes circulating Hanoi's roads this year and categorize them by age. The city would then work with the Ministry of Transport to come up with a standard to determine which motorbikes need to be taken off the roads from 2018.

Instead, the city now wants to review used motorbikes by production year between 2017 and 2020. If a motorbike fails to meet safety and environmental standards, it will be considered for a recall.

Another measure is to list motorbikes by district, age, type and identify scrap yards where outdated motorbikes will be destroyed. 

Over half of Hanoi's 5.2 million motorbikes are old, and have been used for years. Photo by VnExpress/Ba Do

Hanoi is currently home to 5.2 million motorbikes, 10,686 electric motorbikes, 30 registered 3-wheeled motorbikes and 4,367 unregistered 3 or 4-wheeled tuk-tuks. Nearly half of those vehicles have been in use for many years, including many manufactured in the 1980s and 1990s.

The city has recently revived a plan to ban motorbikes from downtown districts from 2030 in an effort to combat traffic congestion. However, the plan, which is now open to public discussion, has been met with strong opposition from many experts and residents.

Many argue that the city should build a comprehensive public transport system first, and claimed that cars are actually to blame for traffic jams, not motorbikes.