I bloody love riding my bike

Students drive electric bikes without heltmets. — Photo baogiaothong.vn HÀ NỘI (VNS) — All departments of education and training throughout the country have warned students not to ride electric bikes without registering them and installing number plates. Students under the age of 16 also have to make a commitment to not drive electric bikes. According to regulations, only people above 16 are allowed to drive electric bikes. This was the latest directive of the Ministry of Education and Training signed by Deputy Minister Nguyễn Thị Nghĩa on Tuesday. As per the document, violations on regulations for registering vehicles, including electric motorcycles, were complicated, and therefore, these directives had been issued, Nghĩa said. Riding electric bikes without registration also means safety standards of these vehicles have not been verified. This poses a risk to both, vehicle users and other road users, the document says. The departments were … [Read more...] about Register electric bikes before riding them, students warned

Electric bike registration at the Hà Nội Traffic Police Station. The Association of Electric Bikes and Motorbikes has proposed to the transport ministry that they extend the mandatory registration for electric bikes to the end of this year. — VNA/VNS  Photo Minh Sơn HÀ NỘI — The Association of Electric Bikes and Motorbikes has proposed to the transport ministry that they extend the mandatory registration for electric bikes to the end of this year. Under the association’s proposal, owners of electric bikes will have to register their vehicles before December 20 instead of July 1 as required by the current regulation. A representative from the association told Vietnamplus online newspaper that the deadline for registering electric bikes before July 1 would imperceptibly create opportunities for businesses to store electric bikes, increase the products’ prices and cause disorder in the market. He further explained that it was usually before July that students often flocked to … [Read more...] about Deadline to register e-bikes may change

Expatriates love Vietnam’s “city for bikes” By Nhan Tam A Spanish family cycling around town - PHOTOS: NHAN TAM Expat Life escorts expatriates riding bicycles around the ancient town of Hoi An—a paradise for cyclists to get around on their bikes Paul Thauvin, a Frenchman, together with his wife and three children, last week traveled to Hoi An after celebrating the New Year in the port city of Bordeaux, his hometown. They had planned to stay in the ancient town for one month in order to experience the local way of life. The French family had also heard praises of Hoi An from their friends. “Hoi An is so peaceful,” says Thauvin. “The green fields remind me of the French countryside.” Thauvin is taking a break on An Bang Bridge after cycling along the rice fields on Hai Ba Trung Street. Cycling along the Hoai River to discover local rice fields, visit Tra Que vegetables village, have lunch at An Bang beach and return to the hotel in the downtown area is their … [Read more...] about Expatriates love Vietnam’s “city for bikes”

HÀ NỘI (VNS) – Hà Nội Police are investigating local media reports that most police patrol bicycles are in mothballs in police stations in the Nam Từ Liêm, Hà Đông and Long Biên districts. The inspections are scheduled to be finished this weekend, Colonel Nguyễn Xuân Đình, head of the Police Department for Criminal Investigation of Social Order, told online newspaper Zing . Đình said the local media would soon be informed of the results of the inspection. The campaign to have police riding bicycles while on patrol kicked off last August in Hà Nội. More than 1,000 bikes, designed by the State-owned Thống Nhất Company, were given to police in 12 districts across the city. The campaign aimed to build a friendly image of the local police among the public. -- VNS … [Read more...] about Hà Nội inspects police patrol bikes

Harry Hà on his road to work. -- photo thanhnien/com.vn Viet Nam News HÀ NỘI – For months, every morning and evening along roads in Hà Nội a young man on a fancy motorbike has been offering pedestrians free rides. Hà Trung Hiếu or Harry Hà, 26, an IT engineer in Hà Nội, has been offering rides to those travelling on the same route to work as him. "Every day, I went to work by motorbike and went alone. And then I thought why not let people go along completely free?” Harry Hà told Thanh Niên (Young People) newspaper. “It was also an opportunity to do good deeds expressing my kindness for life and it brought me opportunities to meet and talk to many people that I met by chance”, Harry Hà said. This also helped complete his long-term photo project on strangers. He hoped his deeds would spread kindness in society, but some people were cautious and skeptical at first. “Initially, I was on the road, and I asked those who were waiting buses or xe om (motorbike taxi)”, he … [Read more...] about Hà Nội man offers motocycle rides to work for free

You can scarcely turn around these days without bumping into a new Bluetooth speaker. We’ve reviewed many of them . The Scosche BoomBottle manages to set itself apart from the crowd, however, by targeting one specific market: cyclists. The speaker is the same size and shape as a large drinks bottle, so it fits into a standard bicycle bottle cage – and it’s weatherproofed, to survive the elements. I took it for a spin … Look & feel The BoomBottle is a ribbed, grey cylinder topped with black speaker grilles at each end. The casing has a smooth, rubbery feel to it, with a little bit of give if you press hard – which Scosche describes as ‘shock-absorbing.’ The speaker is around 8 inches long by a little under three inches in diameter, and fitted well (and snugly) in the bottle cage on my main bike. There are just three controls, each a decent-sized rubberized black button you can operate with gloved hands. One is a multi-function control I’ll get to in a moment, the … [Read more...] about Review: Scosche BoomBottle weatherproof Bluetooth speaker for cyclists

An old street in Hội An is reserved as a non-engine vehicle zone. The city plans to develop more spaces for pedestrians and bicycles. — VNS Photo Công Thành Viet Nam News HỘI AN — The ancient city has developed a master plan to boost the mass use of bicycles among community members and tourists, as part of efforts to make Hội An a capital of eco-friendly tourism in Việt Nam. Architect Đinh Đang Hải from HeathBridge Việt Nam said at a workshop on the development of a comprehensive bicycle plan in Hội An on Wednesday that more than 100 parks, communal gardens and neighbourhood sites have been built to create favourable conditions for pedestrians and cyclists. The workshop, a prelude to the "Establishing a Comprehensive Bicycle Plan and Free/low-cost Bicycle Sharing Programme in Hội An City" project, was held in co-operation with HeathBridge Việt Nam and the city with funding from the German development agency (GIZ). The project won the Global Urban Mobility Challenge Award … [Read more...] about Hội An set to become a bicycle city

Go-Viet drivers quit due to higher commission rate The Saigon Times Daily Go-Viet drivers express their opposition to the new policy, which is designed to increase the commission rate to 20% from the current 0% – PHOTO: NLDO HCMC – Many partner-drivers of the ride-hailing brand Go-Viet, a unit of Indonesian firm Go-Jek, have voiced their opposition to a new policy of Go-Viet to increase the commission rate to 20% from the current 0%. Some drivers have even quit though the firm announced it would refund 10% of the fares to them. Go-Viet said in a recent notice that it plans to apply the 20% commission policy to the total fares of its motorcycle-based services: the ride-hailing service Go-Bike, the on-demand delivery service Go-Send and the food delivery service Go-Food. The notice indicated that those drivers who had successfully registered the app Go-Bike Partner before August 10, 2018, in HCMC would still be entitled to the zero commission rate, until later this … [Read more...] about Go-Viet drivers quit due to higher commission rate

Memories for a city By Mai Lan Young Saigonese ladies in their traditional ao dai in preparation for Tet, the Lunar New Year - PHOTO: THANH HOA Despite its rather young age compared with the country’s long history, Saigon-HCMC has had its own distinctions, some of which have embedded in the mind of Saigonese. When a child, I often desperately expected the holidays before the Lunar New Year, or Tet, to be picked by my uncle. My house at the time was used as both a fabric shop and a tailoring class on the former Truong Minh Giang Street (now Le Van Sy Street in HCMC’s District 3). My mother was so busy with her shop that an outing which fulfilled my wish was a sheer luxury to her. My uncle’s residence was a street-front house on Tran Binh Trong Street, now in District 5. I used to take a seat at the front door to watch the familiar horse carts every morning. I was appealed to the clip-clop of the horses’ hooves steadily knocking on the asphalted road, and the … [Read more...] about Memories for a city

A collision between two motorbikes and a truck killed one person and injured two others in Đắk Lắk Province on Thursday. – VNA/VNS Photo Phạm Cường Viet Nam News BÌNH PHƯỚC — Two students were killed, and another was seriously injured after a speeding bus crashed into their motorbike on National Highway 14 in southern Bình Phước Province earlier this morning. The victims have been identified as Điểu Hiển, Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền and Nguyễn Thị Hoài Thương, high school students in Đồng Xoài Township. Hiển was at the helm of the motorbike with the other two riding pillion. They were crossing the road when a 52-seater coach coming from the opposite direction crashed into them. The three students were thrown off the bike due to the strong impact of the crash. The motorbike was dragged for some distance under the coach. Hiển and Thương died on the spot. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền was taken to the provincial General Hospital in a serious condition. … [Read more...] about 3 killed, 3 injured in separate road accidents