It now costs several hundred kronor extra per day to drive an environmentally unfriendly car in large parts of London. The environmental zone in the British capital is being expanded significantly starting this week.
The area, called the ULEZ (Ultra Low Emissions Zone), was introduced in 2019, but then only in a very small part of central London. Now it will be almost 20 times larger, covering the entire city out to the North/South Circular. It means ”cleaner air for millions of Londoners,” writes Mayor Sadiq Khan on Twitter.
Anyone who wants to drive an older petrol or diesel car in the ULEZ must pay £12.50 every day. Combined with the £15 congestion tax, this means an extra cost of SEK 325 per day for such cars.
The transport authority TFL announces that as a rule of thumb, a petrol car needs to be newer than 2005 to avoid the ULEZ fee, a diesel car can only be around five years old at most.
Those with newer and often more expensive vehicles – such as electric cars – will be exempt from the fee. But Khan says he has a response to those who object that the measures affect the economically vulnerable.
”"Who suffers the most from toxic air? Well, the poorest Londoners," he tells the BBC.
”6 out of 10 people in the new ULEZ area do not own a car.”
According to the mayor's staff, the ULEZ is the largest environmental zone of its kind in Europe. A similar set of regulations is being prepared in Sweden, under the name Environmental Zone 3, but no municipality has yet introduced one.
Source: TT
