Low Emissions Zone protest in Madrid

Several associations representing workers in the freight and passenger transport sector have called for a slow march of vehicles for today, Monday, which will run through the centre of Madrid in protest against the prohibitions on access for professional vehicles to the Low Emissions Zone (ZBE) in the Centre of Madrid as of January 1, 2024.

Starting next year, light vehicles (vans) up to 3.5 tons of Maximum Authorised Mass (MMA) will not be able to access the Central District of the capital, “so practically 70% of the current urban distribution fleet of goods will not be able to carry out its work in the centre of Madrid, which is even more serious for the moving sector in which the percentage of the fleet that does not comply with the necessary environmental labels exceeds 80%,” the associations explained.

As explained by the transporters, “this serious situation is also repeated for all road passenger transport vehicles – coaches – weighing less than 3,500 kilograms with a B badge, which will also not be able to access these areas as of January 1, 2024, extending this measure to all B vehicles without distinction as of January 1, 2025.” According to them, this issue will affect more than 60% of the current fleet of discretionary and tourist coaches in the region and will seriously harm mobility for tourists in the city of Madrid.

Given this situation, the slow march called by the main transport associations will serve to request the Madrid City Council and its mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, for a moratorium on the application of the Low Emissions Zone (ZBE).

As they recalled, “the transport sector in recent years has experienced a difficult economic situation, mainly due to the rise in fuel prices, which has caused it to not have the investment capacity to renew its fleet, but there are other drawbacks such as the absence of infrastructure and the lack of electric charging points in the city of Madrid.”

The application of the Madrid ZBE as of January 1 would not only affect autonomous transporters but could compromise the supply to shops and businesses in the centre of the capital. “If the current access schedule is maintained, there will be supply problems in the centre of Madrid, since there will not be enough vehicles to be able to develop the service that they have been carrying out until now and that has contributed to the improvement of the environment and the quality of the air in the city of Madrid,” explained the transport group.

Finally, the associations recalled that “the current municipal government team was very critical of the regulation of Madrid Central that the previous mayor, Manuela Carmena, proposed in 2018, and that the current mayor, José Luís Martínez Almeida, committed to the transport sector to analyse the situation as a result of the moratorium approved last year, so it would be desirable for it to abandon the ‘ultra-ecologist’ path it has been maintaining and adopt realistic and acceptable measures for transporters,” they concluded.

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