The state of coping with and bypassing authorities

The Hanoi Department of Construction has just reported to the City People's Committee on the results of applying technology in searching and making cashless payments at vehicle parking lots after 6 months of phase 2 expansion. It is worth noting that, although up to now, the whole city has 405 vehicle parking lots/points implementing cashless payments, limitations at vehicle parking lots still exist.

According to the Department of Construction, up to now, the city has 405 parking lots/points implementing cashless payments. Of which, VETC Company provides services at 234 points (including 134 points for cars and 100 points for motorbikes), VDTC Company implements at 171 points (162 points for cars and 9 points for motorbikes). The total number of cashless payments reached 843,892, accounting for 94.9% (compared to 88.6% in phase 1); cash payments remained at 45,172, equivalent to 5.1%.

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For motorbikes alone, QR code payments reached 565,954 (93.1%), an increase of more than 7% compared to phase 1; cash payments were 42,253 (6.9%). For cars, electronic payment methods such as QR, VETC, ePass reached 268,938, accounting for 98.9%.

During the implementation, Hanoi City Police mobilized 1,402 officers and soldiers to inspect 399 parking lots and points. Thereby, 22 cases of violations of occupying roads and sidewalks to illegally park vehicles were fined VND 275 million. The Department of Construction Inspectorate also inspected more than 200 parking points licensed by the Department.

As a result, 168 points met regulations, while 39 points belonging to 13 units still had violations such as blurred paint lines, lack of signs, and lack of guidance staff. The Department requested the units to promptly correct them. In addition, the Inspectorate coordinated with the City Police and local authorities to fine 76 cases of illegal parking, with a total fine of nearly 450 million VND.

According to the Hanoi Department of Construction, cashless parking payments bring many conveniences to people. Parking drivers do not need to prepare small change, do not waste time waiting or worry about not carrying cash. Forms such as QR code scanning, e-wallets, prepaid cards, etc. help operations to be quick and convenient, suitable for modern urban life, and the trend of cashless consumption is increasingly popular. On the other hand, cashless payment contributes to the transparency of the fee collection process. All transactions are automatically recorded on the system, helping to clearly control revenue, limit the situation of collecting fees in violation of regulations or budget loss, etc.

However, cashless parking payments still face many difficulties. Currently, parking lots do not have their own identification images, making it difficult for people to distinguish between places that apply the technology and places that have not. Many places register to use it, but in reality, transactions do not occur or are only done perfunctorily. There are situations where employees only carry scanners when they see the authorities, making it difficult to monitor and check the reality.

The issue of sanctioning according to Decree No. 168/ND-CP faces many difficulties due to high fines, subjects find ways to avoid and hide, causing difficulties in the implementation of administrative sanction decisions. Data updating at some locations is still formal. Some parking lots are operated manually or have not been agreed upon by all parties, so they cannot be implemented synchronously. In particular, parking lots in residential areas, apartment buildings, and hospitals (closed parking lots) currently have a very low application rate compared to outdoor parking lots (open parking lots).

The technological infrastructure also has many limitations: network errors, lost connections, devices running out of battery quickly, systems freezing, and license plate readers operating unstably. Some people, especially the elderly, are still used to using cash and do not have electronic payment accounts. There is no solution to support students and people who do not use smartphones or do not have 3G/4G networks. In particular, because Decision No. 4696/QD-UBND dated September 6, 2025 does not require cashless payments, the implementation is still voluntary. Some units continue to collect cash without being punished. In addition, there are no sanctions for units that do not send data or send incorrect data.

From here, the Department of Construction recommends that the City People's Committee and related departments and branches synchronously deploy and officially apply technology in searching and paying for cashless parking at all licensed locations. Issue appropriate sanctions for violations. Have policies to support organizations and individuals applying technology, especially small locations, bicycle and motorbike parking locations. Develop mobile applications to provide information on legal parking lots, prices, capacity, operating hours, allowing people to book parking spaces before rush hour to reduce illegal parking.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/Giao-thong/tinh-trang-doi-pho-qua-mat-co-quan-chuc-nang-i774148/