Odd/even parking pulls into Hanoi

The parking restriction is being trialled on Nguyen Gia Thieu and Da Tuong streets, about 1 mile from Hoan Kiem Lake in the heart of the city, according to municipal transport authorities. 

As far as the restriction goes, on even days private vehicles can only park on the even-numbered side of the road and the same logic applies on odd days.

This way, as shown in the picture, cars are parked neatly on one side of Da Tuong Street to allow more space on the road for traffic. 

Many streets in Hanoi, most of them in downtown areas, are constricted by vehicles parked on both sides of the road. A traffic sign, which is blue with two parallel white lines, means that no vehicles are allowed to park here on even days.

Cars are allowed to park on one side of the road, about 1.8 meters from the pavement. 

Hanoi’s transport officials are working on a plan to expand the parking restriction to other streets.

The restriction only works for two-way streets with no physical divider.

In an attempt to ease traffic woes, Hanoi's transport authorities last year unveiled a controversial three-step plan aimed at removing all motorbikes from the city, initially from the core downtown areas during peak hours, and later from suburban streets.

By some estimates, there will be more than 7.3 million motorbikes and 1.3 million cars on the city's roads by 2025.