In 2012, Milan introduced a congestion charge system, ‘Area C’. The congestion charge is a fee charged to vehicles entering Milan’s city centre and is applied to an 8.2 km² zone.
The objective of the measure is to decrease vehicle access to the area and thus decrease traffic congestion and pollution. By exempting sustainable vehicles from the charge, the city also hopes to encourage more sustainable means of transport.
In its first year of operation, the system helped reduce traffic volume by 31%, PM10 and NOx emissions by 18% and CO2 emissions by 35%. It has also raised €20 million investment funds for the public transport and the bike sharing system.
Find more about Milan’s congestion charge in the CASCADE good practices collection.