on the bus

Today I'm going to reveal to you a not-so-private interest of mine: Transit. All transportation is interesting to me, and it's something I pay attention to and focus on when I travel. but today, I'm going to talk about mass transportation systems. I'll talk about the Hanoi transit system. It's the system I've been using for the past year. Interestingly, Vietnam shares several things in common with the United States. one of those things is that there is a mass transportation system, but it's not heavily used. In Vietnam, the most prominent transportation option is motorcycles. People use their motorbikes everywhere in Vietnam, much like in the United States, where people will hop in their cars to cross the street. Of course, the effect motorbikes have on the development of a city and the behavior of its citizens is hugely different from the effect a car has.

For one thing: the mopeds and scooters that are most popular here don't travel much faster than bicycles. They're better for medium distances but not suitable for very long distances, so the city is still compact. The motorbikes are just an easy way to get around the city. This developed in a pretty traditional manner, whereas cars have changed the United States in a much different way. There is less suburbanization here than there is in the United States. As far as mass transportation in Vietnam goes: it's not great, but it's probably better than most cities in the US. But it's not on par with most places this large. It's a city of about 8 million people. There are two big cities here. Ho Chi Minh city is even bigger than Hanoi, and there are a couple of others that are also a substantial size. But most of the country doesn't really have mass transit systems.

Regional bus systems seem to be serviceable, and there's a national rail system. Still, for the most part, mass transit is not the most prominent option here. Next year the Metro system for Hanoi is supposed to open. I think HO Chi Minh city is on about the same schedule. That stands to change the transportation patterns here in Hanoi substantially; if it's a sound, usable system, there will be a lot of people using it to get around. However, I'm not sure it will substantially decrease the number of bikes on the road. What it might do is increase the number of rideshare apps and usages. It seems to me that people are more likely to call a bike to get to their nearest metro station than to pay to park their motorcycle there all day.