Cars with environmental label ‘B’ will be able to continue driving around the capital, according to recent statements by the delegate of Urban Planning, Environment and Mobility of the Madrid City Council, Borja Carabante. As indicated by the representative, he does not predict any major restrictions for the circulation of these vehicles in the Low Emissions Zone (ZBE).
“We do not plan to carry out any modification of the ordinance that incorporates new restrictions, because the current restrictions allow us to comply with the European (air quality) directive. Therefore, we are satisfied with these measures, because they have achieved those objectives,” said Carabante on the third day of the ‘Wake Up Spain 2024’ symposium, as reported by Telemadrid.
How many cars do not have a tag in Madrid?
The delegate has defended that only 2.3% of the cars that circulate in Madrid have the ‘A’ environmental classification, that is, they do not have a label, compared to “23% of the national average.” However, according to the data collected by the Madrid City Council’s ‘Madrid 360’ portal, these vehicles “represent, in terms of media, 14% of the vehicles that enter the city daily.”
Carabante has indicated that this percentage “allows Madrid to have 6% of ‘zero emissions’ vehicles, well above the national average, and to be the first capital to surpass ‘eco vehicles’ over ‘B’ vehicles.
With these demands, the City Council seeks to establish “territorial rings for the progressive application of restrictions on the circulation of passenger cars,” the organization states. The Environment delegate, for his part, explains that these zones “are progressive so that citizens and companies can adapt to the restrictions and that the focus has been placed on the most polluting vehicles, those known as ‘A’.”
To adapt to these changes, the City Council is looking for alternatives such as promoting public transport, with free buses that move through the city center, and micromobility, with aid for the purchase of low-emission vehicles.
The city’s objective is to make public transport the axis of mobility in a city where there are “thirteen million trips every day,” explains Carabante.
