European community for mobility management

On 16 January, new regulations on access to the city centre will be introduced in Milan. The old pollution charge scheme, Ecopass, stopped working on 31 December 2011. The new system is called "Area C", and is a pure congestion charging scheme.

The Area C scheme operates Monday to Friday, from 7:30am to 7:30pm, in the city centre of Milan. Access to the area called “Cerchia dei Bastioni” is controlled by 43 camera controlled entrance gates and is now restricted to drivers who have purchased a €5 ticket valid for all vehicles. 

Residents have 40 free daily entrances per year. From the 41st accession they are required to pay a reduced daily tariff of €2. Special terms are also applied to duty vehicles. Bicycles, scooters, electric cars, vehicles displaying blue badges for disabled people as well as hybrid, methane powered, lpg and biofuel cars (up to 31 December 2012) will be exempted from the charge. Euro 0 petrol vehicles and diesel fuelled vehicles Euro 1, 2 and 3 no longer have access to the city centre. 

The main goal of the Area C scheme is to improve the living conditions of those who live, work, study in and visit the city of Milan. Its specific objectives are to:

• decrease road traffic in the city centre;
• improve public transport networks;
• raise funds for soft mobility infrastructures (cycle lanes, pedestrian zones, 30kph zones);
• improve the quality of life by reducing the number of accidents, uncontrolled parking, noise and air pollution.

The Ecopass system was launched in 2008 and was designed to charge the most pollutant vehicles only. Despite its initial positive effects, like decreased levels of pollution due to fleet renewal to greener vehicles, Ecopass started to lose its benefits by 2010: 80% of the vehicles entering the traffic restricted zone were no longer charged as they meet the required air quality standards. The level of congestion increased again as a consequence.

The new Mayor of Milan, Giuliano Pisapia, who was elected in May 2011, strongly supported the adoption of a more effective congestion charging scheme in his electoral program. This big change is also linked to the result of the municipal referendum held in mid-June 2011. The most important topic was mobility policies, including the extension of the road pricing scheme to all vehicles and the enlargement of the tolled area. 79.12% Milan voters expressed a YES to this solution and the referendum was a success.

After several weeks of debates with citizens, commercial operators and associations, the Area C is now a reality. The stakeholder involvement process is still on going and, as recently declared by Pierfrancesco Maran, councillor for environmental affairs of the new local government, "some minor adaptations may occur in the next 2 months to meet some special needs of residents".

Source