Southern Germany's automotive capital will become the second major city in Germany to impose a partial diesel driving ban. It is another blow to diesel makers and owners after the turmoil of Dieselgate.
Image: picture-alliance/chromorange/C. Ohde
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From the beginning of 2019, older diesels will no longer be allowed in select parts of central Stuttgart, according to new rules announced on Wednesday by the Green-led state government of Baden-Württemberg.
The ban will come into effect on January 1 in the hometown of carmakers Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Audi. Overall the Stuttgart region has around 530,000 diesel vehicles. The new regulation will affect an estimated 190,000 vehicles that only meet the emission standard Euro 4.
"From 2019 there will be a driving restriction in the green environmental zone for older diesel Euro-4 and below with a transitional arrangement for local residents and reasonable exceptions for tradesmen and delivery services," said the head of the Green parliamentary group in Baden-Württemberg, Andreas Schwarz.
More modern Euro 5 diesels, the standards of which were introduced in September 2009, or Euro 6 diesel models, which were introduced in September 2014, are so far not affected.
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Environment Minister Svenja Schulze reacted to the news by calling on Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer to finally set federal rules for diesel upgrades. "The longer you wait for older diesels to be retrofitted with hardware, the more likely we are to see driving bans. Now diesel owners have to pay for the massive mistakes of the car industry," she said. Adding that without such technical fixes, "we will be unable to reach our goal of making the air in the cities cleaner."
A breath of fresh air
While not revealing all the details of the plan, the government said the ban would be part of a wider package of measures to clean up the city's air, which has exceeded EU pollution levels.
Some of these measures include the expansion of express bus routes, bringing down the price of public transport and adding bus lanes to particularly busy streets. But if this is not enough to improve air quality by this time next year the plan "will be updated in accordance with the courts' requirements," said Schwarz.
The court order he is talking about is a Federal Administrative Court decision from February that stipulated German cities had the right to impose diesel bans in an attempt to cut down air pollution.
Cities around the world are seeking ways to reduce the scourge of smog. German cities are now allowed to ban diesel cars in city centers while other countries provide tempting offers to drivers who leave the car at home.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Dedert
Too much traffic makes for bad air
Cities all over the world are fighting against smog. A German court has ruled that cities are allowed to impose driving bans. Many German cities — including Stuttgart, shown here — have developed an air pollution problem and are debating how best to approach the problem.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Murat
Oslo, where the diesel ban is reality
A diesel ban is imposed in the Norwegian capital whenever air pollution levels rise above a prescribed limit. The ban went into effect for the first time on January 17, 2017. Ambulances and other public service vehicles running on diesel are exempt from the measure. The city plans to reduce even more cars by eliminating municipal parking spaces in the center starting in 2019.
Image: Fotolia/nanisimova
Paris is also planning a diesel ban
Starting in 2024, the French capital will ban diesel vehicles; in 2030 it intends to expand the ban to gas-powered cars. Vehicles manufactured before 1997 are already prohibited in the city on weekdays. When air pollution levels exceed prescribed limits, Parisians have to follow a rotation system in which only cars with either even- or odd-numbered plates are allowed to be driven in the city.
Image: Reuters/C. Platiau
London has a congestion charge
If you want to drive into the center of London, a day's ride through the city will cost you 10 pounds ($13.80, €11.20). London introduced the congestion charge in 2003. Automatic number plate recognition is used to enforce the measures. Anyone who does not pay the fee faces a heavy fine of up to 240 pounds.
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Copenhagen – the most bike-friendly city in the world
Copenhagen's mayor, Frank Jensen, wants to prevent new diesel cars from entering the city starting in 2019. Currently, over 300 kilometers of roads in the Danish capital can only be used by cyclists. With the new regulations, cycling will become easier, more convenient and cheaper than driving a car. About half of Copenhageners now cycle to work.
Image: picture-alliance/Hans Ringhofe
Pedestrian zones spreading in Madrid
Car-free zones like the square in front of Madrid's Teatro Real are set to become a common sight in the city. Almost the entire center of the Spanish capital will be turned into pedestrian zones in the next five years. Madrid has high smog levels, due to being surrounded by mountains, which cause bad air to get trapped in the city.
Helsinki offers a traffic app
Riding public transport will become even easier in the near future in Helsinki. In the next ten years, a mobility on demand system will be developed to include all forms of public transport in one app, including buses, self-driving cars and minibuses with flexible routes. The goal of the app is to be so good that no one will want to own a car.
Image: picture-alliance/Photoshot/Li Jizhi
Driving electric rickshaws in Delhi
Smog chokes Delhi and levels of air pollution regularly go off the scale. Electric rickshaws will hopefully alleviate the problem. By 2030, all new vehicles will be electrically powered and the city will phase out gas powered vehicles.
