HTA’s tuk-tuk plan objected

A Hanoi Transport Association proposal to import three-wheeled cabined tuk-tuks for massive transport in Hanoi has been strongly objected.

The Ministry of Transport (MoT) said it disagreed with the proposal, which Hanoi Transport Association (HTA) viewed as an initiative to restrict motobikes in the capital city. HTA chairman Bui Danh Lien argued tuk-tuks were widely used in some Asian countries, including Thailand, India and Singapore. The association proposed that tuk-tuks would be used within Hanoi for transporting passengers to bus stops as well as on suburban inter-commune roads, therefore lowering traffic congestion by reducing motobikes from entering downtown areas.

But the MoT said sustainable public transport development must be based on more efficient means like buse, urban railway and metro systems. Due to its inefficiency, transport means under tuk-tuk  style have been banned from January 2008.

Before 2008, tuk-tuk style vehicles had been widely used in many urban areas, especially in southern Vietnam. Lambro, or xe lam in local recognition, were the most popular means.

Under the government’s Resolution 32/2007/NQ-CP dated June 29, 2007 providing some immediate measures to curb traffic accidents and congestions, xe lam and three-wheeled vehicles manufactured by drivers themselves were banned from running on Vietnam’s streets.
However, in reality, many three-wheeled vehicles of that kind are still used.

The MoT also argued that the nations cited by HTA had transport inffrastucture systems quite different from Vietnam and they were also reducing tuk-tuks to enhance traffic safety and improve environment.

Hanoi Transportation Corporation’s deputy general director Nguyen Trong Thong even viewed HTA’s proposal as a set-back in public transport development.

He said Vietnam had had to spent years to be able to ban xe lam and many three-wheeled vehicles and was currently facing the headache of dealing with four-wheeled vehicles.

“Thus tuk-tuks must not be allowed to run on the street. The permission of tuk-tuks circulation is turning back the wheel of history.”

Hanoi’s Department of Transport director Nguyen Quoc Hung said the application of tuk-tuks in the city’s districts was just an idea, “not the city’s policy”.

Pham Anh Tuan, a Hanoi taxi driver said HTA’s proposal was “quite funny” because tuk- tuks were unsuitable to Hanoi’s traffic conditions, which were chronically full of traffic jams.

“In the past, xe lam roared as noisy as a tank and was unsafe to drive. They also emitted so much exhaust causing air pollution. So are you sure tuk-tuks won’t be another case of xe lam?” Tuan said.

HTA said they would send a mission to China later this month to survey the quality and price of tuk-tuks.