What it is, how it works, how much it costs and how to pay for Area C in Milan, Italy's most well-known congestion charge zone. In force since 2012, it has reduced traffic and pollution in the centre of the Lombard capital. Further restrictions are planned for 2017.
Since 16 January 2012, the date it came into force, it has significantly reduced the number of vehicles entering the Cerchia dei Bastioni in Milan – the city centre – and at the same time has enabled both a 10 per cent increase in the average speed of surface public transport and a marked reduction, of more than 30 per cent, in the main pollutants. Area C, that is to say the ZTL most well-known in Italy, has by now become part of daily life for the inhabitants of the Lombard capital and is set, in the course of 2017, to introduce a further tightening of the rules for the least eco-friendly vehicles.
Area C is, essentially, a congestion charge that aims to target private vehicles by prohibiting or discouraging their access to the city centre so as to reduce traffic, improve air quality and generate funds to be reinvested in public sustainable mobility. The successor to Ecopass, which was in force from 2008 until the end of 2011, it covers the entire Cerchia dei Bastioni, an area of 8.2 square kilometres within a municipal surface area of 181 square kilometres. A small but pivotal portion of territory. Unlike a pollution charge, which imposes differentiated tolls and restrictions based on vehicle categories and is calibrated on the primary need to reduce pollution, Area C applies to all cars, regardless of type and emissions. In Milan there are, in detail, 43 camera-equipped access points, seven of which are for the exclusive use of public transport; the cameras record each vehicle as it passes through, on entry only, and transmit the data to a processor capable of identifying the vehicle and its number plate, retrieving all the information needed to manage and monitor the system.
At present, access to Area C is free for electric vehicles, mopeds and motorcycles (motorbikes, tricycles and quadricycles), for vehicles transporting disabled persons (displaying the relevant badge) and for those in a state of necessity, meaning those heading to a hospital accident and emergency department. Until 31 December 2016, no charge applies to hybrid vehicles or bifuel cars running on natural gas or LPG either. Entry is instead prohibited for the most polluting cars, namely petrol Euro 0 and diesel Euro 0, 1, 2 and 3, as well as for vehicles longer than 7.5 metres. This last prohibition applies from Monday to Friday, between 7:30 and 19:30. What about all other vehicles? They pay. To access Area C it is in fact necessary to purchase a daily ticket and activate it, i.e. link its code to the vehicle's number plate.
Area C operates only on weekdays, from 7:30 to 19:30, except on Thursdays, when the restrictions end at 18:00. Tickets can be purchased (and activated) in the "online services" section of the Milan city council website, paying by credit card or via PayPal, or at parking meters, Intesa San Paolo automatic machines, participating retailers and newsagents, activating them by SMS to the number 339 994 0437 (available 24 hours a day), by calling the dedicated call centre on 02 486 84001, or, alternatively, by visiting in person, Monday to Friday, the offices at via Beccaria 19, from 8:30 to 12:00 and from 14:00 to 15:00. Telepass users can rely on automatic charging, with no additional costs and even without the device on board. For more frequent users and residents, by registering on the "MYAreaC" page it is possible to activate a personal identification code, so as to view top-ups in real time – prepaid cards worth 30 or 60 euros are available – and access records, as well as manage the associated number plates.
The Area C ticket costs 5 euros if activated on the same day as entry into the Cerchia dei Bastioni or by midnight of the following day, 15 euros if activated later but no more than seven days after entry. Concessions are available for residents, who pay 2 euros, and for service vehicles, which are subject to a 3-euro ticket. To benefit from these preferential terms it is, however, necessary to register in advance online in the "MYAreaC" personal area, or by telephone on 02 486 84001, or, alternatively, in person at the offices at via Beccaria 19. Anyone parking in affiliated car parks pays only 3 euros. Failure to pay results in a financial penalty, notified by means of a formal notice of contestation (fine), of 80 euros, to which notification costs are added.
In 2017, Area C will become even more restrictive. From February, the ban on Euro 4 diesel vehicles without a particulate filter will be activated – with a deferral to 2018 for residents, law enforcement and tourist buses – while bifuel LPG and natural gas cars, hitherto exempt, will have to pay 5 euros. A change that will also affect the most polluting tourist buses, taxed at amounts ranging between one hundred and two hundred euros depending on their engines. The new measures were confirmed by Mayor Giuseppe Sala and by Mobility Councillor Marco Granelli, who stressed: "Thanks to the introduction of the new measures, we estimate a reduction of as many as 7,000 entries per day into Area C, of which at least 200 during the morning peak hour, cutting the concentration of PM10 by 30 per cent". From 15 October 2017, Euro 4 commercial vehicles will also be stopped. Until that date, Euro 3 diesel vehicles belonging to residents will be able to enter free of charge up to 40 times, after which they will no longer be permitted to enter. In short, only hybrid and electric vehicles will have free access. A clear statement of intent on the part of Milan city council.
Area C is no isolated case. Italy is in fact the European country with the most ZTLs — that is, areas within urban centres where, with the exception of specific categories of users and authorised vehicles, entry and circulation is not permitted unless on foot, by bicycle, by moped, by motorcycle, or by non-polluting vehicles or those used for car sharing. To date, while Germany has one hundred restricted traffic zones and the Netherlands thirty, the Italian Peninsula has at least two hundred. The first was, back in 2002, the Mont Blanc tunnel; following the 1999 fire in which 39 people lost their lives, restrictions on the circulation of certain categories of heavy vehicles were imposed. The first Italian town to introduce a fully-fledged ZTL was Ginestra Fiorentina, in the province of Florence, in January 2006, while around the world the most well-known examples of congestion charging — with characteristics similar to Milan's Area C — are found in London, Stockholm, Singapore and San Diego (California).