by Ray Riches*

When you are inside a situation and experience it daily, you don’t really see the changes going on around you in the big picture. After being in HCM City for 11 years, I never noticed those subtle little changes. And now I sit back and look at the big picture and see that the massive growth has had a major impact on the lives of so many.

The largest city in Việt Nam is located on the Saigon River around 70 kilometres to the north of where the river meets the ocean. Its population in 2024 was 9,568,000 people, and it is well known as an emerging commercial and financial hub for SE Asia.

With only three cities larger than it in SE Asia - Bangkok, Manila, and Jakarta - the city is on track to break the 10 million mark in the coming year, and this has meant a number of struggles for the infrastructure and environment.

Arterial roads in HCM City have improved over the past decade. Điện Biên Phủ is the main road to the East of HCM City. Photos Ray Riches

It’s just not working and traffic is at the centre of this growth. Over the past decade, public transport has seen great improvements with the Metro train line and additional buses, but this has done little to offset the two million additional residents that have entered the city over the past decade.

And with no other options, motorbikes and cars have been the go-to for the majority of these new residents. In real terms, that means up to 1.5 million more vehicles on the road every day.

Some great infrastructure improvements have had significant impacts. Improved roads such as Phạm Văn Đồng, Xa Lộ Hà Nội, and Mai Chí Thọ, as well as the new bridges including Thủ Thiêm 2, have all played a part in helping the massive amounts of traffic get around better.

But it is not the arterial roads that we need to look at. In my local area, Ung Văn Khiêm is an example of a street out of control. Every morning and afternoon, up to 15 police do their best to control the traffic trying to commute to and from their work.

However, it is a battle with no winners. There are just too many bikes and a disproportionate number of cars that all reach this bottleneck at the same time every morning and afternoon.

This is the situation for many commuters in this modern city. It is a 3km trip from my home to work. In traffic, my motorbike ride takes 20 to 30 minutes. Walking the same distance takes me around 35 minutes. A bus takes almost an hour.

Further, I have never tested the time a car trip would take, but I would suggest it would be similar to that of a bus. Also, I refuse to ride a bicycle because the traffic situation makes riding a bicycle just too dangerous in peak times and it will take as long as a motorbike ride.

It’s just not working.

Up to 1.5 million more vehicles are on the road every day.

Every morning, I sit in the traffic and wonder: “What is the solution?”. I am very aware that so many groups in the country are working hard to better this problem, but it takes time and the impact will be felt over a number of years as infrastructure improves.

I am a firm believer in getting cars off secondary roads. These small roads like Ung Văn Khiêm are already restricted to cars traveling in just one direction. But we need to go one further and remove them totally from these roads that were never built to take large amounts of cars.

Turn to the business community for solutions. The majority of commuters on bikes and in cars go to offices. Having companies promote alternatives to using personal vehicles could go a long way.

As an example, for staff that use a bus, they may receive a 30-minute time bonus to compensate for the extra travel time or give cash incentives for employees that ride a bicycle to work.

As I look out my window, I see the terrible pollution of this city. And every year it has continued to get worse and worse. It is just not working.

This is not a statement to turn to the government. This is a statement for every commuter and every business to start being a responsible community member. You need to change your habits and not pass your responsibility to legislators and city planners.

For too long we have sat back and just taken the easy options as community members. Now it is just not working, and it is time that we all make changes to our lives to make a better city.

The result of too many motorcycles is that office buildings are full every day with bikes and cars.

How you change is up to what is possible. You need to make it a discussion point in your office or workplace. Share a ride with a colleague, walk, use public transport, or get that bicycle out of your spare room and start using it every day.

With 10 million inhabitants fast approaching this wonderful city, the time is now for everyone to make a change and start living for the city and not just for themselves. I love this city and I want to see it continue to grow, but I also care about my health and the health of my family, so we need to change because the current situation is just not working. — VNS

(* Ray lives in HCM City and works as a teacher and freelancer. Apart from teaching, he is a keen runner and bicycle adventure rider. He has visited many parts of the country by bicycle and loves the smaller parts of this beautiful country. After ten years in Việt Nam, Ray has a love and passion for the smaller things and enjoys sharing his experiences with people all over the world.)