HANOI - Vietnam's plan to bar gas-guzzling motorbikes from central Hanoi may clear the air of the smog-smothered capital, but riders fear paying a high toll for the capital's green transition.
Hanoi's scooter traffic is a fixture of the city's urban buzz. The northern hub of nine million people has nearly seven million two-wheelers, hurtling around at rush hour in a morass of congestion.
Their exhausts splutter emissions regularly, spurring the city to the top of worldwide smog rankings in a country where pollution claims at least 70,000 lives a year, according to the World Health Organization.
The government last weekend announced plans to block fossil-fuelled bikes from Hanoi's 31 square kilometre centre by next July.
It will expand in stages to forbid all gas-fueled vehicles in urban areas of the city in the next five years.
Many families in communist-run Vietnam own at least two motorcycles for daily commutes, school runs, work and leisure.
Proposals to reform transport for environmental reasons often spark allegations that the burden of change is felt highest by the working class.
Hanoi authorities say they are considering alleviating the financial burden by offering subsidies of at least three million dong ($114) per switch to an e-bike, and also increasing public bus services.