Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

The traffic congestion index above pre-Covid levels. Regulated parking outside the tramway has been restored

Milan, October 14 2020 – From tomorrow, Thursday 15 October, Area B will be restored, the anti-smog limited traffic zone surrounded by 187 gates at the edge of the urban area. Area B gradually and progressively prohibits access to old vehicles responsible for the most polluting emissions and allows the demarcation of an area with low emissions harmful to health and the environment.

Also tomorrow, regulated extra-tram parking will be restored in areas 8, 25, 31, 34, 35, 36, 38, 42, 43.

Both measures were suspended last March 12 with the adoption of extraordinary measures for the health emergency and confinement.

The decision to reactivate Area B follows the checks carried out on the evolution of traffic flows in the city. The congestion index in the week between 21 and 25 September exceeds the pre-Covid one by 2,5%. In particular, the index in the morning rush hours, between 7 and 9 am, is around two percentage points lower, while in the afternoon rush hours it is around 10% higher. Vehicle entries into the city, measured by area B cameras in the week between 28 September and 2 October 2020, are 90% of those entering in the pre-Covid weeks of January and February. On average, before the Covid emergency, access to Area B was over 900.000 vehicles per day. Even the overall admissions to Area C in the same week are 98% of those in the pre-Covid weeks of January and February. In particular, there are 21% more residents in Area C than pre-Covid and service (commercial) traffic is 23% higher.

Sharing also highlights a situation of return to pre-Covid levels: car-sharing in the week of 28 September - 2 October is 84% ​​of the pre-Covid figure. Bike sharing is 73% of what it was pre-Covid, although that was a rainy week and the previous, sunny week had seen 20% more use than the pre-Covid period. Scooter sharing, considering the same rainy week, had a 2% higher use than the pre-Covid figure and the previous week, without rain, 25% more than the pre-Covid figure.

As regards public transport, compared to the frequency of October 2019, in the first week of October 2020 there were approximately 765 thousand passengers on the subway, equal to 54% of the same period in 2019.

“We want to prevent the streets of Milan from being congested by traffic and in particular by polluting vehicles – declares Marco Granelli, Councilor for Mobility – and for this reason we believe it is necessary to reactivate Area B. From tomorrow the heating systems can also be restarted which inevitably leads to to the increase in the values ​​of pollutants harmful to health. To date, public transport is able to collect additional passengers and even the interchange car parks have a filling rate of 49%".

In line with the limitations on vehicle circulation adopted by the Lombardy Region, the Municipality of Milan has also decided to postpone the entry into force of the circulation bans in Area B on vehicles registered for personal and commercial transport Euro 1 petrol (M1) and to Euro 4 diesel commercial vehicles without FAP (N1, N2, N3) as of 11 January 2021.

Furthermore, to strengthen the process of awareness of the provision and in consideration of the suspension period of Area B, 50 days of dynamic circulation are granted, even non-consecutive, for each vehicle subject to the environmental prohibitions which came into force from the start of the regulation on 25 February 2019: these 50 days can be used starting from the first access to the area subject to the provision and until 30 September 2021.

55 gates are active, in addition to the cameras in via Anassagora, Baroni, Basilea, Cassinis, Fantoli, Carlo Feltrinelli, Gallarate 1 and Gallarate 2, Gonin, Mecenate, Giuditta Pasta, Pirelli, Rogoredo, Sarca, Tofano, Zurich, Corelli, Camillo and Otto Cima, Rubattino, Caduti di Marcinelle, Monneret de Villard, Carnia, Palmanova and Palmanova at the railway bridge height, Cambini, Clitumno, Assietta, Gabbro, Bovisasca, Oriani, Certosa 1 and Certosa 2, Bressanone, Capodistria, Montefeltro, Columella, Sesto San Giovanni, Fulvio Testi, Comboni, Senigallia 1 and Senigallia 2, Vincenzo da Seregno 1 and Vincenzo da Seregno 2, Litta Modignani, Apennines 10 new gates in via Monsignor Romero, Seguro, Luraghi, Gozzoli, Lucca 1 and Lucca 2, Ciconi, Lorenteggio, Lodovico il Moro, Buccinasco.

To find out more about Area B regulations and find out about the prohibition calendars, you can consult: www.comune.milano.it/areab. The address is also active: https://areab.atm.it (the use of a modern browser is recommended) where it is possible, after registration, to verify and control the accesses made and request the exemption: it therefore allows you to manage the license plates of your vehicles through a registration of mandatory fields. Furthermore, an infopoint on the mezzanine of the Duomo station on the red line of the metro is also open to the public these days. The Area B and Area C counters are open from Monday to Friday from 8am to 30pm continuously. To receive assistance you must book and you can do so from the ATM Milano app.