Ride'm while you can!
Posted: Tue May 01, 2018 7:08 pm
"Singapore to ban pre-2003 motorcycles in 10 years Motorcycles registered before July 1, 2003, will be banned from the roads in Singapore in 10 years as the small island nation tries to reduce air pollution. Both everyday riders and fans of classic motorcycles are irate and are questioning the government's data.
The Singapore National Environment Agency recently announced that the older motorcycles will be illegal after June 30, 2028. In announcing the change, the NEA said that motorcycles make up 15 percent of Singapore traffice but produce 50 percent of the carbon monoxide from vehicles, and older motorcycles pollute the most. New motorcycles sold in Singapore must meet the strict Euro 4 standards in place in Europe. Many motorcyclists questioned the NEA's pollution estimates, but the agency has stood firm on its plan to get the bikes off the road.
Owners of older bikes are facing the prospect of having to scrap their bikes or export them, since they will no longer be legal after 2028. Motorcycles over 35 years can be registered under a "classic" designation, but can only be used with tight restrictions. But a motorcycle from, say, 2000, will not be old enough in 2028 for classic registration nor new enough to be used on the street. It will be essentially illegal and worthless in Singapore.
One despondent rider who posted on the Singapore Classic Motorcycle Group Facebook page under the name Chris Chow said that maybe the only thing left to do for owners and lovers of old bikes is to use up their machines while they can.
Paris' ban on older motorcycles begins next month
If your particular (peculiar) motorcycling goal is to ride your 1947 Triumph T100 down the Champs-Elysees to commemorate the Allied liberation of Paris, you'd better move quickly.
Beginning July 1, Paris will begin phasing in new vehicle restrictions to deal with the city's air pollution problem. Cars built before 1997 and motorcycles from before 2000 will be banned.
Paris is not the only major city that is dealing with air pollution problem by restricting motorcycles and other personal motor vehicles. Mexico City imposed restrictions last month when pollution conditions reached dangerous levels. Vehicles with license plates ending in certain numbers are prohibited from being used in the city on certain days, thus cutting down on overall traffic. New Delhi, which according to one World Health Organization study has the worst air pollution of any city tested, has tried similar restrictions in the past, but targeted cars only and exempted motorcycles. Rome banned car and motorcycle use for certain hours when weather conditions created a severe pollution problem."
Paris is just one of several cities around that world that have imposed vehicle restrictions to deal with dangerous air pollution levels. But unlike other cities, Paris is being stricter, rather than less strict, with motorcycles. Photo by Roman W.
What makes the Paris ban different is that it specifically targets older vehicles that were built before more stringent emissions controls were implemented and it sets a slightly stricter standard for motorcycles than for cars. This first phase bans motorcycles from before June 1, 2000. Tighter restrictions will be phased in, and by 2020, motorcycles from before 2004 will be prohibited.
Motorcyclists and vintage car groups have protested, but with no success and not in great numbers. Others have argued that the measures disproportionately affect lower income groups. The city is offering aid to people who are affected, to help them find other transportation options.
Motorcycles provide plenty of advantages to crowded cities dealing with traffic problems: They take up less space on the road and in parking lots, in addition to using less fuel than almost all cars. The dirty little secret about motorcycling, however, has been that for most of the recent past they have been worse polluters than cars, because of less extensive emissions controls.
By targeting the specific vehicles that pollute more, Paris' restrictions have a chance of being more effective than measures such as those in Mexico City and New Delhi. But they also hit harder at motorcyclists.