THE Low emission zones This is a new reality that affects Spanish cities with more than fifty thousand inhabitants, although the greatest restrictions on vehicle circulation will occur in the most important provincial capitals such as Barcelona or Madrid.
These limitations will increase on January 1, 2025, as there will be more areas in which regulate existing pollution in exhaust pipes and new bans on vehicles.
To make it more concrete…
What we have to keep in mind is that environmental labels B and C of the General Directorate of Traffic can circulate in the ZBE of our country, but they cannot do so in areas of Madrid such as the Madrid area itself or the Plaza Elíptica.
The label called B will correspond to vehicles registered between January 2001 and December 31, 2006 and to diesel vehicles from 2006 to 2015.
In the case of label C, it will correspond to gasoline vehicles registered from January 2006 to 2014.
What the current ZBEs do is limit access to cars which do not have an environmental label, in the case of motorcycles, cars and vans running on petrol and registered before the year 2000 and diesel motorcycles, cars and vans registered before 2006.
Madrid, the pioneer city
The Spanish capital was the first to ban the circulation of cars without an environmental label, but from January 1, 2024, no car will be able to circulate without an environmental label. DGT Label in the ZBE of all Spain. Yes, it is true that residents could access it with their vehicles, but all that will change next year.
Exceptions when traveling through urban ZBEs, as in the case of Madrid, are reduced, as well as the number of vehicles that will meet one of the conditions:
- Historic vehicles registered in the Vehicle Register of the General Directorate of Traffic in accordance with current regulations.
- Vehicles adapted to be driven or for the transfer of people with reduced mobility, provided that they are in the access management system to the “Madrid ZBE”.
- Emergency vehicles dedicated to extinguishing fires.
It should be taken into account that the limitations imposed on cars with labels B and C They can be extended until 2028But in our country there is still a long way to go to reduce the average age of the vehicle fleet, which is one of the oldest in our country.
What the report shows is that among more than thirty million cars registered last yearabout half are over fifteen years old.
Similarly, 1.3 used vehicles over a decade old were also sold for every new unit registered.
Historic vehicles and ZBE restrictions with the new law
Users of historic vehicles were somewhat afraid of what would happen to them. The new law, which comes into force on October 1specifies that its use will be limited to 96 days per year.
They may not be used for public transport of passengers or goods; nor for agricultural or construction activities. Yes, they may be used for static exhibitions and advertising or film shootings.
In the same way, use will be authorized to carry out other types of activities which, due to their low impact on transport or the fact that they are short distances, do not require authorization.
Learn more…
This standard will also establish that it will not be possible to impose the use of environmental stickers on these vehicles or to establish traffic restrictions or other types of negative consequences for not having been placed, they will therefore be authorized to circulate through the ZBE, provided that they do not exceed 96 days.
We are talking about vehicles that are part of the cultural and technical heritage, so they should not be confused with vintage cars, which require little maintenance and are used daily as an economical means of transport, which pose a problem of air pollution in cities.
Conclusion
It seems that the real problem is faced by users of vintage cars who live in urban areas or have to pass through them and who do not have the labels, but who are not close to reaching those 30 years from which they will be able to circulate as a historic vehicle. However, we will continue to report on the subject.
