A parking lot under Vĩnh Tuy Bridge on Minh Khai Street. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - It’s only the beginning of the morning but the parkinglots on Phuong Mai street in Hanoi are full.
Big hospitals are located on this street like the Hanoi French Hospital, BachMai Hospital, the National Geriatric Hospital and the National Hospital ofDermatology and Venereology, and huge numbers of people visit thesehospitals every day.
Tuyet, a resident of Hoang Liet ward, who had to go to Bach Mai Hospital twicein two days for check-ups, couldn't find a private parking lot outside thehospital to park her bike.
“It was hot and stuffy, I couldn’t be more patient to find a parking place so Ididn’t go in for the check-up,” Tuyet said.
Pham Trong Khuyen, who works at the gate of Bach Mai Hospital, said thatthe parking area was full every day.
At the Central Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, the situation is slightlydifferent. Most of the sidewalks are used as parking for motorcycles and cars.
At the entrance gate on Trieu Quoc Dat street, all the sidewalks are full ofmotorbikes and bicycles.
Vu Ba Luy, head of the security guard team atthe National Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said only employees of thehospital are allowed to park inside.
“There’s not enough room,” he said.
Meanwhile, owners of private parking lots outside the hospitals would chargemuch higher than municipal regulations allow.
The usual parking fee for motorbikes is 5,000 VND (nearly 20 UScents) from 6am to 6pm, and 8,000 VND (about 3 US cents) from 6pm to 6am.But people often have to pay 10,000 VND every time they park their bikes duringthe daytime.
Phan Thu Hoai, a Hanoi resident, said she didn’t have a choice so sheaccepted to pay the inflated fees.
Due to lack of parking spaces, especially in central areas of the capital, manyroads and sidewalks in the city have been turned into motorbike and car parkinglots, causing problems for traffic safety and urban order.
Hanoi currently has about 6.5 million vehicles of all kinds, not to mentionspecial-purpose vehicles and those coming from other provinces. The growth rateof the vehicles is about 10 percent for cars and 6.7 percent for motorcycleseach year.
Meanwhile, land reserves for urban transport and construction grow slowly,which leads to overloading for the city’s infrastructure system, especially indowntown areas.
It is estimated the city will need 1,400ha for the development of statictraffic works by 2030. This is a real challenge given constrained land funds.
Hoan Kiem district has the smallest natural land area in Hanoi (4.53 millionsq.m) with nearly 200,000 motorcycles and 17,000 cars. These vehiclesneed more than 1 million sq.m for parking. There are now more than300 licensed parking lots, mostly on roadways and sidewalks, but they meet only14 percent of demand.
The municipal People's Committee has prescribed 56 roads banned fromparking bicycles, motorbikes, cars on sidewalks and roads to rectify thesituation of arbitrary parking on the roadbed or sidewalk.
Experts have said Hanoi needsto consider granting permits for temporary parking lots at pending projectland lots, as well as partially using wide sidewalk areas for parking.
Nguyen Duc Toan, deputy head of Traffic Infrastructure Management Unit ofthe Hanoi Department of Transport, said the construction of parkinglots in the city is underway.
He said that the city’s transport department had proposed the People'sCommittee allow the organisation of parking storage in confiscated landareas and project land that has not been inaugurated yet.
In addition, the Department of Transport has reported to the People's Committeeto approve the list of roads and streets wide enough to be eligible forparking./.
Big hospitals are located on this street like the Hanoi French Hospital, BachMai Hospital, the National Geriatric Hospital and the National Hospital ofDermatology and Venereology, and huge numbers of people visit thesehospitals every day.
Tuyet, a resident of Hoang Liet ward, who had to go to Bach Mai Hospital twicein two days for check-ups, couldn't find a private parking lot outside thehospital to park her bike.
“It was hot and stuffy, I couldn’t be more patient to find a parking place so Ididn’t go in for the check-up,” Tuyet said.
Pham Trong Khuyen, who works at the gate of Bach Mai Hospital, said thatthe parking area was full every day.
At the Central Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, the situation is slightlydifferent. Most of the sidewalks are used as parking for motorcycles and cars.
At the entrance gate on Trieu Quoc Dat street, all the sidewalks are full ofmotorbikes and bicycles.
Vu Ba Luy, head of the security guard team atthe National Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said only employees of thehospital are allowed to park inside.
“There’s not enough room,” he said.
Meanwhile, owners of private parking lots outside the hospitals would chargemuch higher than municipal regulations allow.
The usual parking fee for motorbikes is 5,000 VND (nearly 20 UScents) from 6am to 6pm, and 8,000 VND (about 3 US cents) from 6pm to 6am.But people often have to pay 10,000 VND every time they park their bikes duringthe daytime.
Phan Thu Hoai, a Hanoi resident, said she didn’t have a choice so sheaccepted to pay the inflated fees.
Due to lack of parking spaces, especially in central areas of the capital, manyroads and sidewalks in the city have been turned into motorbike and car parkinglots, causing problems for traffic safety and urban order.
Hanoi currently has about 6.5 million vehicles of all kinds, not to mentionspecial-purpose vehicles and those coming from other provinces. The growth rateof the vehicles is about 10 percent for cars and 6.7 percent for motorcycleseach year.
Meanwhile, land reserves for urban transport and construction grow slowly,which leads to overloading for the city’s infrastructure system, especially indowntown areas.
It is estimated the city will need 1,400ha for the development of statictraffic works by 2030. This is a real challenge given constrained land funds.
Hoan Kiem district has the smallest natural land area in Hanoi (4.53 millionsq.m) with nearly 200,000 motorcycles and 17,000 cars. These vehiclesneed more than 1 million sq.m for parking. There are now more than300 licensed parking lots, mostly on roadways and sidewalks, but they meet only14 percent of demand.
The municipal People's Committee has prescribed 56 roads banned fromparking bicycles, motorbikes, cars on sidewalks and roads to rectify thesituation of arbitrary parking on the roadbed or sidewalk.
Experts have said Hanoi needsto consider granting permits for temporary parking lots at pending projectland lots, as well as partially using wide sidewalk areas for parking.
Nguyen Duc Toan, deputy head of Traffic Infrastructure Management Unit ofthe Hanoi Department of Transport, said the construction of parkinglots in the city is underway.
He said that the city’s transport department had proposed the People'sCommittee allow the organisation of parking storage in confiscated landareas and project land that has not been inaugurated yet.
In addition, the Department of Transport has reported to the People's Committeeto approve the list of roads and streets wide enough to be eligible forparking./.
VNA
