Hanoi’s Low-Emission Zone Scheme: Dates, Areas and Rules for Motorbikes

Hanoi’s low-emission zone is a phased scheme, not a blanket ban on petrol motorbikes. The scheme’s official announcement by the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Environment, carried by the Government e-newspaper on 5 July 2026, says that from 1 July 2026 Hanoi does not ban all petrol and diesel motorcycles, mopeds and cars across Ring Road 1, but applies specific restrictions in two areas of Hoan Kiem ward, by vehicle type and time of day. This article separates what is described as under way from what is only announced for 2027 to 2030. The newest page read is dated 7 August 2026, so later changes are not covered.

What the scheme covers

The zone is the nine wards inside Ring Road 1: Hoan Kiem, Cua Nam, Ba Dinh, Giang Vo, Ngoc Ha, Tay Ho, O Cho Dua, Hai Ba Trung and Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam. The Government e-newspaper of 17 June 2026 gives their combined size as more than 26 square kilometres with about 625,000 residents, and reports that the Hanoi People’s Council approved the scheme with a three-stage roadmap. Exact boundaries of the three areas and of Ring Road 1 are on a map attached to Decision No. 3273/QD-UBND.

The roadmap at a glance

Phase 1: the Friday-to-Sunday evening closure

The pilot covers 119 streets and 5 lanes in the Old Quarter and around Hoan Kiem Lake, split into two areas. Area 1 is the zone inside the lake’s pedestrian-street area, bounded by Trang Tien, Hang Khay, Le Thai To, Hang Dao, Hang Ngang, Hang Buom, Ma May, Hang Bac, Hang Mam, Nguyen Huu Huan and Ly Thai To streets. Area 2 is the whole Old Quarter, bounded by Hang Dau, Phung Hung, Trang Thi, Hang Khay, Trang Tien, Tran Quang Khai and Tran Nhat Duat streets.

The one Phase 1 restriction in the announcement is a closure: in Area 1, all road vehicles, including motorcycles, mopeds and cars, are barred from 19:00 to 24:00 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Separately from that closure, for motorcycles and mopeds not used in business, the 17 June roadmap page (which does not mention the evening closure) says the city only encourages: limiting motorcycles made before 2008 and mopeds made before 2016, and switching to green vehicles, electric vehicles or public transport. It also encourages petrol bikes working on ride-hailing apps to limit their activity in the area.

The pages differ slightly on where the closure applies. The announcement names Area 1. The VietnamNet report of the 7 August 2026 Hanoi Party Committee press briefing states, in its own words and not as a quotation from an official, that motorbikes and cars are barred from 19:00 to 24:00 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings on the Hoan Kiem Lake pedestrian streets, in the Old Quarter and at the night market. The same report has a Deputy Director saying signs have been installed in the pilot area; it does not say what the signs show.

Phases 2 and 3: what changes for motorbikes

From 1 January 2027 the zone widens to Hoan Kiem and Cua Nam wards. The announcement says fossil-fuel motorcycles and mopeds operating in business on app-based transport platforms are not allowed to circulate in the zone, and the app providers are responsible for redirecting them. Other motorcycles and mopeds are still only encouraged: to limit motorcycles made before 2008 and mopeds made before 2016, and to move to green vehicles or vehicles meeting Level 3 or above. The 17 June roadmap page adds that the city begins emissions testing of motorcycles and mopeds in this phase under the national roadmap, tightens control of high-emitting vehicles and gradually restricts those that do not meet the emission standard inside the zone.

From 1 January 2028 to the end of 2029 the zone covers all of Ring Road 1. The ride-hailing rule continues, and motorcycles and mopeds that fail Level 3 of the standard QCVN 99:2025/BNNMT are not allowed to circulate (the 17 June roadmap page and VietnamNet Global specify petrol or fossil-fuel bikes; the announcement text does not say so). The announcement’s Phase 2 section also ends with a list that repeats the Level 3 rule, while the roadmap page and the Phase 3 heading place it in 2028; this article follows 2028, and the full official text of the scheme would settle it.

Enforcement and support reported so far

At the 7 August briefing, a Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment said the pilot area has signs, charging stations, battery-swap cabinets, parking points, public bicycles and park-and-ride lots. The report gives these figures: 220 parking points in Hanoi; a public network of bicycles, electric bicycles and electric mopeds with 171 stations and 1,820 vehicles, of which 44 stations and 456 vehicles are in Hoan Kiem and Cua Nam wards; and 10 park-and-ride sites arranged by the Department of Construction.

On enforcement, the city said it would speed up installing AI cameras at the pilot area’s entrances and finish a management module and an automatic plate-recognition system linked to vehicle, inspection and emissions-test data. The official said the cameras are gradually becoming able to identify vehicles that fail emission requirements. These steps were described as upcoming.

What the pages leave out

The pages read do not settle several points a rider might want. None says how the rules apply to rental motorbikes, rental shops or tourists; the only rental mention is green-vehicle rental points, in the 17 June page’s list of alternative travel options. The Phase 1 closure is worded as “all road vehicles” in Area 1 and no exemptions are listed, but a summary that lists none does not prove there are none. The Phase 1 encouragement refers to bikes “not used in business”, and nothing says how a rental bike is classed under that phrase or under the Phase 2 ride-hailing rule. The map that fixes the exact boundaries was not among the pages, and neither were fines, a start date for camera-based penalties, or how a bike’s emission level is checked, so no model years are named here as barred.

Older reporting also differs. A Government News (English) report of 8 April 2026, written before the scheme was approved, reported a Department of Construction deputy director as saying the city would not impose an outright ban on petrol cars and motorbikes across all of Ring Road 1 from the outset, and described a wider phased plan reaching areas within Ring Road 2 from 1 January 2028 and Ring Road 3 from 1 January 2030. The same report recalled that Prime Minister’s Directive No. 20/CT-TTg of 12 July 2025 had tasked the capital with fast-tracking a ban on fossil-fuel motorcycles on the roadmap Ring Road 1 from 1 July 2026, Ring Road 2 from 1 January 2028 and Ring Road 3 from 2030. The 31 May VietnamNet Global report said the revised proposal dropped earlier plans for an outright petrol-motorcycle ban in the centre. The 5 July announcement covers Ring Road 1 only, and none of the other pages read mentions Ring Road 2 or 3, so this article follows the announcement.

Planning around the scheme

• A Friday, Saturday or Sunday evening in Area 1 falls inside the 19:00 to 24:00 closure, and the 7 August report describes the closure for the Old Quarter and the night market as well.
• The dates to watch are 1 January 2027 for ride-hailing petrol bikes and 1 January 2028 for the Level 3 rule.

For booking checks, see Hanoi Motorbike Rental Guide: What to Check Before Booking. For choosing a bike, see Motorbike Rental Hanoi: How to Choose the Right Bike.

Sources checked

• Government e-newspaper (Chinhphu.vn), 5 July 2026: announcement of the scheme. Scheme announcement
• Government e-newspaper (Chinhphu.vn), 17 June 2026: roadmap approved by the Hanoi People’s Council. Roadmap report
• VietnamNet, 7 August 2026: Hanoi Party Committee press briefing. Press briefing report
• VietnamNet Global, 31 May 2026: the revised proposal. Revised proposal report
• Vietnam Government News, 8 April 2026: earlier plan and Directive 20/CT-TTg. Earlier plan report

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