APCOM

The 'Ecopass' pollution tax turned out to be more effective than the analogous measure that was taken in Stockholm two years ago. It was shown by the comparison of the data presented during the conference 'Sustainable City'. The event, which was organized by the Swedish Embassy with the collaboration of Milano's city council, pointed out the significant analogies between the environmental policies of the Lombard metropolis and the Nordic capital.

According to Milano's city council, in the first six months of application the historical centre of the Swedish city enjoyed a traffic reduction between 8% and 14% (between 1% and 3% inside the so called 'urban area'). Besides, the decrease of exhaust gas emissions lead to a drop in the deaths due to respiratory diseases included between 20% and 25%. The results reported by the Milanese public authority were even more positive: the first semester of the 'Ecopass' system saw a 20% drop in traffic, with 20,000 circulating cars and 3,000 commercial vehicles less than before the tax came into force.

As for the most polluting vehicles entering the city centre, in Milano the drop is steady and progressive: 50% for private vehicles and around 25% for commercial vehicles. The 'Ecopass' tax also had a significant effect on road accidents' frequency: the latter decreased by 10.6% inside the area involved in the project. Conversely, there was a 10% increase in public transport's speed and a 20,000 unit daily average growth of underground passengers. Air quality improved too, thanks to a 23.3% reduction of thin dusts in the tax's time band (from 7 am to 7 pm during weekdays).