According to a story in Sur last week, it looks like the Malaga city low emissions zone (ZBE) will begin operation this autumn, but that there will be no fines for the first 12 months.
The aim is that, once fines are in place, some 26,000 vehicles will be removed from the central area of Malaga city where most congestion occurs. These vehicles will be identified through entry points controlled by number plate reader cameras connected to the DGT database. It is estimated that over a period of some 15 years, the figure will rise to 40,000 vehicles per day being removed from the streets, reducing current traffic volume in the city centre by some 20%.
Among the traffic currently on Malaga’s streets, 40% carry a C environmental sticker and 31% a B. Almost one in four cars still has no label at all. The cleanest cars, with ECO or Zero (0) category, are few and far between, accounting for 3% and less than 1% respectively.
The B category is designed so that families use up the useful life of their current vehicle. So if they pay their car tax in Malaga, they can continue to drive it without a time limit on entering the zone.
Big picture, the aim is to reduce carbon dioxide by 13.3 %, carbon monoxide by 16.4 %, nitrogen dioxide by 19.2 % and LDCs by 20.5 % by 2030.
Read the full story here. Read about neighbouring cities here.
Picture: Calle Atarazanas (amended) by Dguendel, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons