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Tolls, "Ecopass" and others: when you have to pay to get into, and to drive around, town
In 2008,
Milan was the first Italian town to establish an "
Ecopass" to get into the town centre. 43 electronic porticos equipped with cameras monitor the entrances into the town. The price of the "Ecopass" varies from €2 to €10 per day depending on the polluting emissions of the vehicles. A permanent subscription of between €50 and €300 is also offered. The money received thanks to the Ecopass tickets is dedicated to the development of public transport.
In
Germany, well before the crisis that hit the automobile industry and led the Government to offer a €2,500 "scrappage premium", towns had taken many initiatives to encourage motorists to purchase light, less-polluting vehicles.
Only vehicles meeting very precise standards have been allowed to circulate in the low-emission zones (Umweltzonen in German) in
Berlin, Cologne and Hanover since 1st January 2008. The vehicles must display a specific disc, which is sold for between €5 and €10. Other German towns have taken the same road -
Stuttgart and a dozen other towns in the state of Bade-Würtemberg are following this example, which was inspired by experiments run in around 60 other European towns (4 in Sweden, 16 in the Netherlands, 5 in Denmark…).
In practice:- Those vehicles having a petrol engine without a well-tuned catalytic converter and Euro 1 standard diesel vehicles will not obtain a disc because of high fine particle and nitrogen dioxide emissions.
- The red discs correspond to the Euro 2 standard and to the Euro 1 standard for diesel vehicles equipped with a particle filter. These vehicles will not be able to circulate in the "Umweltzonen" after 2012.
- The yellow discs correspond to the Euro 3 standard for diesel vehicles and the Euro 2 standard for diesel vehicles equipped with a particle filter.
- The green discs are reserved for all vehicles that have a petrol engine and a well-tuned catalytic converter as well as diesel vehicles that either meet at least the European standard for exhaust gases, Euro 4, or only meet the Euro 3 standard but have added a high-performance particle filter.
In
Stockholm, elected officials wanted to strongly reduce inner-city traffic circulation and questioned, by referendum, the inhabitants with regard to the opportunity of a "town toll." A (small) majority were for it, and it was put in place in 2007. The amount of tax it costs to enter or leave the town-centre varies from 10 to 20 Swedish krona (between €1.05 and €2.10) according to the times, with a ceiling limit of 60 Swedish krona (€6.30) per day and per vehicle.
Revenue from the toll is reinvested in public transport. The first results are positive.
The number of kilometres travelled in the town-centre has fallen by 15% and there has also been a 13% reduction in fine particles.
The municipality of London’s winning betIn 2003, the municipality of
Greater London put an urban toll (Congestion charge) into place. Even if the zone concerned was extended in February 2007, the toll only "filters" vehicles entering a small part of the town-centre with a relatively low population but with intense commercial activity and a high number of jobs.
Between 7.00 am and 6.00 pm, in order to enter the controlled zone in a private car, one must pay – by text message for example – a charge of £8 (€9.15) from Monday to Friday (except Bank Holidays). Zone residents benefit from a 90% reduction and 100%-electric vehicles such as hybrid vehicles (thermal + electric, petrol + LPG, petrol + CNG) or even vehicles with 9 or more seats are exonerated from all payment.
Every year, the
Congestion Charge generates over £100m (€115m), which allows the promotion of sustainable mobility for all. How? By improving public transport (increased number of bus numbers and routes) but also road safety: development of pedestrian and cyclist traffic, safer access to schools, putting into place measures that facilitate deliveries and parking for delivery vehicles.
The question was if the toll was playing its role: to relieve congestion in London. We know today that the system has met its expectations.
In fact:
-private car traffic has reduced by around 15%;
-vehicle speed has increased by 20% for private cars and 7% for buses;
-the increase in public transport journeys has been substantial;
-the reduction in pollution — due to 2 concurring factors, reduced traffic and increased speed — has been significant.
Finally, on 4th February 2008, in the pursuit of its pollution-reducing policy, the municipality of London instituted a
Low Emission Zone (LEZ). Wider than the Congestion Charge zone, and in operation 24 h/24, it concerns neither private cars nor motorbikes, but only lorries, buses, coaches, motor homes, utility vehicles and other diesel-engined vehicles that do not conform to the Euro 3 standards. The charge for these vehicles is £200 (€230) per day.
Paris brings itself up to dateParis wants to become exemplary in terms of car circulation and the fight against pollution. The town is not hiding its ambitions of combining the stakes of mobility with the demands of public health and the environment. The efforts made to develop the tramway, to reinforce bus and tube services but also river shuttle services, and to grow Vélib’, the self-service bicycle scheme, are taking the town in this direction. The best, however, is yet to come!
The town wants, in effect, to
bring electric cars into general use to transport people and merchan
dise. It has already decided to subsidise the purchasing of electric scooters and, at the end of September, the Paris Assembly voted in a similar measure for
the purchasing of electric-powered bicycles.
The Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, has also been very clear about the self-service car scheme, Autolib’:
the invitation to tender, which should ba launched before the end of 2009, will affect electric vehicles (4,000 available at 1,400 stations).
The town of Paris, moreover, is putting free recharging terminals at the disposal of electric-vehicle users and is encouraging car park concessionary companies, of which it is the owner, to do the same. For these vehicles, there is a free-parking card.
The urban toll could also arrive in France. The project for a toll at the entrance to Paris, evoked long ago but always eluded, is indeed coming back to the forefront, relaunched by a Senate amendment in September 2009 authorising French communes of more than 300,000 habitants to try out the venture for 3 years.
The principle would be to invest the toll money paid by motorists into a public transport improvement.
Included in the Grenelle II law, the measure could come into force in 2010, on the condition that it is validated by the National Assembly. To be continued!
