The Government intends to approve the Law on Sustainable Mobility and Transport Financing earlier than expected, whose entry into force was estimated for the year 2023.
“Our intention is to soon bring the draft bill to the Council of Ministers for a second reading, after incorporating the contributions and observations of the rest of the ministries. But, in any case, the scenario we set for ourselves is to be able to approve the law this year” , declared this Thursday the Minister of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, Raquel Sánchez, during the presentation of the Global Mobility Call, the conference on sustainable mobility that will be held between June 14 and 16 at the IFEMA Fairgrounds in Madrid.
As announced by Sánchez, the text contemplates the possibility that the municipalities establish their own rates for vehicles to circulate through their respective areas.
Toll for driving in the ZBE
“Indeed, the possibility of city councils establishing fees to charge for circulation in ZBEs is foreseen,” the minister said. The responsibility for these supposed rates, therefore, would remain in the hands of the consistories. “It will be the municipalities that determine to apply or activate this rate for circulation in low emission areas.”
However, for the moment the amount of these tolls is unknown, as well as the formula under which they would operate. Similarly, it is still unknown what each of the future LEZs will look like.
In this sense, it should be remembered that another of the laws approved by the Government, the Climate Change and Energy Transition Law, established by 2023 the obligation to adopt ZBE for municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants. Also, for localities with more than 20,000 that exceed the limits of established pollutants.
“The rest of the municipalities also have the possibility of doing so. The criteria or recommendations have to be defined to point out, identify and qualify some low emission zones,” added Sánchez regarding the aforementioned tolls.