“There will be no sanctions for those vehicles registered in Madrid that circulate in these twelve months.” With these words, the Councilor for Mobility, Borja Carabante, announced this Thursday the relaxation of the Low Emissions Zone that comes into force in twenty days and will affect all unlabeled vehicles (type A) that circulate in the capital.
The arrival of Madrid ZBE was going to affect the owners of vehicles registered in the capital or registered with the Mechanical Traction Vehicle Tax (IVTM) without an environmental label, in addition to motorcycles and A goods vehicles from anywhere. of Spain, including those of the municipality of Madrid. With this announcement, the fines of 200 euros for improper circulation will not arrive until January 1, 2026 since the Madrid City Council uses a planned legal tool, the notice period, to extend it up to twelve months and not fine any resident. during this period.
In addition, the Almeida Government adds three other access authorizations that will be permanent and that were not initially planned, which are added to the exemptions for vehicles that transport People with Reduced Mobility (PMR) and historic vehicles already in force: on the one hand, it will be authorized Access to self-employed workers (or sole proprietorships) who turn 59 or older next year with A vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tons.
The circulation of holders of A vehicles or family members who need it will also be allowed to travel to medical and hospital centers to undergo hospital treatments (although not for consultations). All these exceptions must be expressly requested by registration and will not be granted by default. Finally, temporary access to vehicles A will be allowed for those people who have purchased a new low-emission vehicle, but who have not yet received it due to manufacturing reasons.
“There are reasons that justify it,” the Mobility delegate stressed before stating that “experience tells us that we must provide more months of information so that people become aware.” Residents who fail to comply with the regulations will receive a letter from the council at home indicating the new regulations and the date of entry into force of the fines.
Better air quality
The Madrid City Council makes this decision after checking how the city is going to comply for the third consecutive year with the air quality limits established by the European Union, after the good data recorded in recent months. In November, the lowest nitrogen dioxide records in the entire historical series were achieved. The stations were below 29 μg/m3 (the current limit set by Europe is 40 μg/m3) and nine of the 24 stations would comply with the new European directive that will apply from 2030, which establishes a maximum of 20 μg/m3.
The change of plans in Cibeles comes as a surprise although the announcement It had already been advanced by Mayor Almeida this Wednesday although he did not specify the specific measures, which were finally advanced this Thursday after the weekly Government Meeting. Almeida’s team has chosen to establish a longer notice period than other previous restrictions, which were two or four months.
The number of vehicles affected by the measure is not defined. Parties like Vox speak of 400,000, although the City Council denies this figure and the official public data is much lower: of the list of subscribers to the Regulated Parking Service (SER) which amounts to just over 219,000 cars, only 19,801 do not have a label. That is, 9% of the total number of registered residents in areas with parking meters.
The opposition has criticized the measure taken by the Almeida Government. Más Madrid claims that the capital is the Spanish city with the most deaths due to pollution, with 3,000 deaths each year. “We cannot be conformist, we must move forward and be more ambitious,” says its spokesperson Rita Maestre. “In a context like this we cannot afford to stop applying measures that protect the health of the entire population, whether they use the car or not,” he added.
Among environmental groups, Greenpeace assures that “now is not the time to take steps back”, while showing its “concern” about what they consider to be a setback in air quality policies, which so far have proven effective. and “they are essential to protect people’s health and combat climate change,” they explain in a statement. They also remember that for Madrid to comply with the pollution limits in 2030 “we must continue to decrease the current pollution limits and much more to reach the healthy values recommended by the WHO.”
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