Bicycle 'Discrimination' in Vietnam
In a parking place on the road in Nguyen Xi Street, famous for cheap bookshops, motorbikes overwhelm bicycles whose owners are students and pupils. Only a few of the latter stand modestly on a small open space.
Pupils and students have long been associated with bicycles, but the trend is now changing. More among them can now get access to motorbikes (of course, their parents are financial sources), even if there is a law banning students under 16 from riding motorbikes to school.
With the influx of cheap Chinese motorbikes, more and more people can afford to get motorcycles at the cost of about US$200. In big cities, many people think that bicycles belong to the inferior classes and are deemed unfashionable. That's why people often find it hard (psychologically and physically) to park their bikes when going to a modern cafe or shopping malls.
Nguyen Thu Ha, a business student from Bac Ninh province, said, "One day I cycled to a very big fashion shop in Hang Bong street in the old quarter. The security guard looked at me top down, and then told me they had no parking space for bikes. I then asked some of my friends and they said that the guard may have thought that I did not have money because I rode a bike."
Time has gone by and fewer bikes are visible in the street. More motorbikes of all brands have been dominating the road. Some youths try to show off with expensive motorbikes with famous brands like Honda or Piaggio.
The edges of roads throughout Vietnam are reserved for bicycles, but more motorbikes are encroaching on this area due to the rapid increase in their numbers.
It was a totally different story in the 1980s when Vietnam was still reeling from the war. Owning a bike "made in Eastern Europe" was the dream of many. At that time, deserted streets were dotted with old and skinny bicycles.
Bicycles are very good tools for saving the environment, but according to the Hanoi Department of Internal Public Transport, about 60 percent of Hanoians like motorbikes for commuting. Only 13 percent prefer bicycles.
Spencer White, chief Asian equity strategist for Merrill Lynch, was once quoted by Bloomberg as saying figuratively, "Bicycles have been swapped for BMWs in the streets of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City."
With the government decision to allow the imports of old cars, it is predicted that big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City will be full of cars. Maybe in 10 or 15 years, motorcycles will meet the same fate as bicycles now.
By Nguyen Ngoc Trung - OhmyNews (.kr) - March 14, 2006.
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