Short answer: no. A lane marked as dedicated to buses — Hanoi’s bus rapid transit corridor, the curbside lanes on main commuter arteries — is closed to motorbikes. Article 13(4) of the Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety (No. 36/2024/QH15) states it flatly: on a lane reserved for a type or group of vehicles, other vehicles may not enter. A motorbike riding one is in the wrong lane, priced at 600,000–800,000 VND with a four-point licence deduction under Decree 168/2024/NĐ-CP.

Where the rule bites

Dedicated lanes are marked, signed and physically obvious where they exist — painted lane edging, bus pictograms, and on Hanoi’s BRT corridor a physically separated roadway with its own stations. The temptation is predictable: the bus lane is empty while the general lanes stand still, and a scooter slips in for a hundred metres of progress. The law does not have a hundred-metres exception. Entering the dedicated lane is the violation, whether it lasts one block or one kilometre.

The related duty is parking: the law separately prohibits stopping and parking on bus lanes. A rider who leaves a bike standing in a BRT lane has created a moving violation for the bus and a documented, easily photographed violation for themselves.

What it costs

Wrong-lane riding — the family that covers bus-lane use, riding the median gap, and travelling the wrong side of a divided road’s inner lane — is Article 7(3)(d) of Decree 168/2024/NĐ-CP: 600,000–800,000 VND, plus four points from the licence’s twelve under Article 7(13)(b). Repeated on the same commute, the habit eats the licence in three weeks. And the collision risk is asymmetric: a rider in a bus lane meets vehicles that are not expecting anything smaller than a bus, at speeds measured for buses.

The honest confusion

Not every curbside lane with bus traffic is a dedicated lane. Ordinary roads where buses simply stop often are just roads, and riding them is ordinary riding. The test is the designation: painted boundary, signage, separation. If the lane is signed or built for buses only, it is not yours. If nothing says dedicated, it is — but keep clear of the stops themselves, where buses pull across the kerb lane and passengers step out.

For visitors on rentals: the fine follows the plate, and the plate belongs to the shop. Save the temptation for the walk.

Information, not legal advice. Verified against Law 36/2024/QH15 and Decree 168/2024/NĐ-CP on 2026-09-22.