Vice Chairman of HCM City People's Committee Tran Vinh Tuyen has asked the Department of Transport to build a pilot bicycle-sharing programme in the city's centre.

Tuyen said at a meeting with the department on December 22 that the bicycle-sharing programme would not need huge investment, would be easy to expand and can be managed via the internet. More importantly, the programme could help reduce private vehicles, congestion and pollution in the city.

In order to rent a bicycle, mobile phone users need to download an app, search for a bicycle rental location on the map and unlock a bike using a QR code. The bike-sharing model has been implemented in 200 cities around the world and is popular. Chengdu City in China has 8 million population, of which 3 million participate in a bike-sharing programme.

"Bicycle is a good solution and would be good for people to use for exercise," the city's vice chairman said. "People from the suburbs can use public transport to get to the city and then use bicycles to travel around. However, the traffic in HCM City is bad so they need to find safer routes for bicycles and how to utilise the pavements better".

"Without a realistic framework, it will be very difficult to realise the plan," he said.

Tuyen also raised concerns about potential theft or damaged bicycles. Management firms must follow all procedures and note the age of the users to avoid risks.

The Department of Transport must submit the pilot programme next January.

Dtinews