In Milan, the number of cars entering Area B decreased by 4.3%.

The number of cars entering Area B, the limited traffic area that prohibits entry to the most polluting cars, which corresponds to almost the entire city of Milan, is decreasing.

According to the data presented by the Councilor for Mobility of the Municipality, Arianna Censi, to the group leaders of the Municipal Council, in the first three months of 2023 the gates of Area B recorded a daily average of 384,875 different vehicles in the activation time slots, corresponding to 626,771 transits daily averages. Comparing the data with the same period of operation in 2022, there is a reduction in average daily transits of -4.3%. Again in the same period (January-March 2023) the vehicles that took advantage of the accompanying measures (50 derogatory entries, invalid passes, Move-ins and other derogations) accounted for less than 8% of the total vehicles that enter daily in Area B. In detail, of this 8%, 2.6% is represented by vehicles with disabled passes, 1.9% of vehicles adhering to the Move-In, 3% with environmental exemption (50 entries), 3%, while the other derogations represent only 0.2%. “Area B is a Ztl – commented Censi – which aims to progressively reduce the entry into the city of polluting vehicles and on this basis must be evaluated for its effectiveness. The data tell us that only 8 percent of the vehicles is using the accompanying measures and that progressively these numbers are decreasing. For us it is obviously a success”. The frequency trend of the accesses made by vehicles in environmental derogation underlines the occasional nature of the entrances of this category. In fact, 89.1% of the vehicles that are using the 50 entries have made a maximum of ten days of access and only 1.1%, equal to 3,931 vehicles, has reached the threshold limit. Looking in more detail, the members of the exemptions for entry into Area B are 60,798 vehicles with disabled passes that made at least one entry in 2023 and 2,798 historic cars. There are 161 vehicles used to go to the emergency room, which require registration of the license plate within 24 hours, while 2,478 shift workers have made at least one entry. Finally, a total of 53,414 vehicles have installed the Move-in. Added to these are the accompanying measures introduced later: in 2023 there are 1,215 who can enter Area B while awaiting the arrival of the new non-polluting car already purchased, 20 who have a season ticket in the interchange car parks in Area B and 259 those who are entitled to it for an income of less than 20 thousand euros from Isee. “If someone wants to transform Area B into a ‘congestion charge’ and, therefore, not only limit polluting cars, he can obviously make all the appropriate proposals, but he cannot judge the success of this provision with the criteria of someone else who does not has never been introduced – added the councilor for Mobility of the Municipality of Milan, Arianna Censi – Lastly, the individual daily data have no meaning without an overall evaluation of the period, because they can depend on external factors such as the weather or days of public transport strike, three in the month of March, which can greatly change the numbers”.