Author(s)

T. Shimizu, A. T. Vu & H. M. Nguyen

Abstract

Rapid motorcycle-based motorization due to the economic growth presents severe environmental issues in Hanoi city, Vietnam. This paper discusses the required policies and scientific research needed to move towards urban air quality management in Hanoi. The effect of the taxation system, the demand shift from motorcycle to bus, and signal systems that are easily implemented in the short term on the urban air quality are analyzed. The motorcycle taxation system has little effect on the regulation of the growth of ownership. Improvement of the bus service level does not lead to a great increase of bus share. The signal system cannot make the traffic flow more environment-friendly. Therefore, the measures for decreasing emission factors by technological approaches such as inspection systems and attachment of a catalyst should be implemented urgently as well as the improvement of the signal system in Hanoi. Keywords: motorcycle penetration, modal shift, motorcycle traffic flow, air quality management. 1 Introduction Motorization has gradually been going on in last two decades in developing countries, especially in Asian countries. Urban areas, especially mega-cities in this region have suffered from the serious air pollution problem accompanied with the motorization. We consider that this problem can be explained by the following two major reasons. Firstly, many second-hand automobiles and motorcycles that already operated in many years have been imported from developed countries, and have

Keywords

motorcycle penetration, modal shift, motorcycle traffic flow, air quality management.