The new one Sustainable Mobility and Transport Financing Law, which the Executive is taking to the Council of Ministers this Tuesday, opens the door for municipalities to establish, if they wish, a rate for the circulation of vehicles in low emission zones (ZBE). The so-called “congestion charge” is already applied in some European cities such as Stockholm, Oslo, Gothenburg (Sweden), Milan and London, and consists of vehicles having to pay to access the central area of the city – with some exceptions, such as those of residents or delivery men. In London, for example, the daily amount is already 15 pounds (about 18 euros), a figure that has been increasing in recent years.
According to the Ministry of Transport, some Spanish municipalities have requested that this possibility be included in the new law so that it can be put into operation. In order for the municipalities to create this type of rate, an authorization with the rank of law is necessary, which would be covered by the new norm. In addition, in this way it is guaranteed that the basic conditions are homogeneous throughout the territory, although each City Council may decide whether to implement the toll or not.
The ZBE are areas, located mostly in the center of cities, in which access to the most polluting vehicles is prohibited to improve air quality. For this, it is taken into account the environmental label system of the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT): gasoline cars registered before 2000 and diesel before 2006 do not have a label. Label B corresponds to gasoline cars between 2000 and 2006 and diesel cars from 2006 to 2013. Label C corresponds to gasoline cars after 2006 and diesel cars after 2014. Eco: hybrids in general. Zero: electric or hybrid with a range of more than 40 kilometers. Currently there are only two ZBEs in Spain, in Madrid and Barcelona, but the climate change law obliges the 149 localities with more than 50,000 inhabitants —and those with more than 20,000 more polluted— to create areas of this type before to end this year.
The “congestion charge”, on the other hand, goes one step further, and bets on charging an amount to vehicles that enter an area (although exceptions can also be contemplated). Normally, the money collected is used to improve public transport. In London, one of the first cities to implement the measure, any vehicle that accesses between seven in the morning and six in the evening on weekdays pays a fixed amount for the call congestion charging, which started at about 5 euros in 2003 and is now at 18. Residents get a 90% discount and people with disabilities can circulate for free. The volume of traffic in the area has been reduced by more than a third compared to what it was almost two decades ago.
Barcelona City Council, for example, has already studied the option of implementing a toll or congestion charge if the current low-emission zone fails to reduce pollution sufficiently, as confirmed by a municipal spokesperson. “But there will not be a definitive position until the deployment of the ZBE ends, which still has the last moratorium for buses and coaches in force, which ends on July 1. In other words, there is no position on the matter at this time,” says the spokeswoman.
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Bet on the bike
The new Law on Sustainable Mobility and Financing of Transport, of which the full text is not yet known, establishes that public administrations ensure that they encourage and promote less polluting means and modes of mobility, such as walking, cycling and public transport . “It is about providing attractive alternatives to private vehicles and transforming the urban mobility model,” says Transportes.
The future text states that the Government will have a National Plan to promote the use of bicycles, the preparation, implementation, monitoring and updating of which will correspond to the Ministry of Transport. A preview of that plan was made known last June with the presentation of the State Strategy for Bicycles, advanced by EL PAÍS. This document focuses on the determined promotion of active mobility and, specifically, on the role of the bicycle in the transport system.
Regarding the last mile urban distribution —the last step in parcel delivery: from warehouses to homes—, the standard aims to create a methodological guideline. This document will serve as support for the competent administrations in the planning of urban mobility, when they address this problem in their planning instruments.
In addition, the law introduces the obligation for companies with 500 workers (or 250 per shift) to have sustainable mobility plans for work, which are considered an essential tool to advance in promoting this type of mobility in the workplace. Companies are not required to have a minimum content for the plans or that they must necessarily include any type of mandatory measures, and the options are wide: promotion of active mobility (on foot or by bicycle), collective transport, electric mobility, mobility shared or collaborative, flexible peak hours, teleworking…
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