In 2018, HealthBridge’s Livable Cities team, together with the City of Hoi An, won the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI) Global Urban Mobility Challenge award. The award recognizes a new Livable Cities project that is designed to solve both road safety and public health issues. Our project developed a comprehensive plan for green, sustainable transportation that focuses on cyclists in Hoi An, the World Heritage Site, in Vietnam.

Shared mobility in Hoi An is mostly based on motorbikes and cars, and the trend “shared mobility” has not caught on in the non‐motorized transport sector. An Non-Motorized Transportation plan to support sustainable transportation in Hoi An was developed together with TUMI and WRI . This plan was approved and supported by the Hoi An People’s Committee.

Project Goals:

• Increase road safety
• Improve public health
• Promote the local economy
• Improve the environment
• Enhance equity

Outcomes and Impacts:

• Improved section of the Hai Ba Trung and An Bang route (2.5 km each) for separate bicycle lanes on both sides of the route
• Patched and upgraded the road with clearly marked bike lanes and improved junctions to ensure safety of the cyclists when riding from the historic city centre to the local beach
• Created physical improvements for cycling safety at five intersections
• Improved awareness and support of local residents and Hoi An authorities of the Bicycle Transportation Development Plan and the Hoi An Public Bike Sharing Scheme (PBS) through the collaboration with GIZ Vietnam
• Improved awareness through cycling events in response to World Bicycle Day and the EU Climate Diplomacy Week “Youth and Climate Change”, which included extensive media coverage and more than 400 participants in total

• Facilitated the collaboration and support of the Hoi An government, hotel owners and tour operators, and the bike sharing firm QIQ, which expanded the bike parking stations and operation plans of the Hoi An Ppublic Bike Sharing Scheme.

In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic began at the end of the project. In response, we:

• Shifted the focus: from tourists to locals residents as a way to respond to the difficult reality of the pandemic

• Ensured mobility of vulnerable groups and local dwellers by shifting bike sharing stations to residential areas

• Extended the free trial use of the PBS.