HCMC – The Hanoi Public Transport Management Center has proposed charging vehicles entering the city’s downtown area from 2024 to reduce vehicular traffic.
The center sent its plan on charging autos and motorcycles entering areas prone to traffic congestion and pollution to the municipal Department of Transport, proposing deploying the plan in three phases, the local media reported.
In the pilot phase from 2024 to 2025, the city will set up 15 collection booths on nine routes leading to the downtown area.
In the second and third phases, starting from 2026 onward, the fee collection will be expanded to the northern and southern banks of the Red River.
The results of a survey among residents showed that a fee of VND22,300 per auto is acceptable, according to the center.
Some 55% of car users will pay the fee to enter the downtown area, so the minimum fee will have to be higher than the acceptable level to make the fee collection effective.
The center said it would continue to garner feedback from the city’s departments on fee collection for cars entering the city’s inner-city area from October 24 to November 15, and then complete its plan to submit it to the Hanoi government for consideration on December 15.
Hanoi City currently has over one million cars, some 6.5 million motorcycles and 180,000 electric bikes.
In 2017, the Hanoi People’s Council passed a plan to tighten control over private vehicles until 2020, with a vision toward 2030, with a focus on collecting fees from autos and motorbikes entering areas prone to traffic congestion to reduce private vehicles and environmental pollution.
