Munich: Gradual diesel driving ban planned – Munich

From February 2023, the city wants to implement a gradual diesel driving ban, including on the Mittlerer Ring. This is intended to stop the years of exceeding exhaust gas limits.

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Heiner Effern

The city wants to significantly tighten the driving ban for diesel vehicles. This was announced by Mayor Katrin Habenschaden (Greens) and environmental officer Christine Kugler at the presentation of the new clean air plan. From February 1, 2023, vehicles with the Euro four emission class will no longer be allowed to enter the existing low-emission zone within the Mittlerer Ring. If the situation does not improve quickly, the ban will also apply to diesel vehicles in emission class five from October 1, 2023. The middle ring is also to be part of the environmental zone in the future, this was previously excluded. There should be exceptions for residents and delivery traffic.

The green-red coalition justifies the planned diesel ban with pressure from three lawsuits because of the violation of applicable limit values ​​​​for nitrogen dioxide. The hotspots Landshuter Allee, Tegernseer Landstrasse and Leuchtenbergring have been regularly above the permitted 40 micrograms per cubic meter of air on an annual average for years. The Free State had always ignored this legal violation and paid fines for it, but transferred responsibility to the city in 2021. This is now the official defendant. A conviction could only be avoided with the new rules that have now been presented, said Mayor Habenschaden. If the limits for nitrogen dioxide are still not met by April 1, 2024, the city wants to tighten the ban again. Then all general exceptions for residents of the area within the Mittlerer Ring and for craftsmen were dropped.

The coalition assumes that the first two stages of the diesel driving ban can no longer be prevented. That would mean that by October 1, 2023, 140,000 Munich vehicles with emission class five and worse would no longer be allowed to drive on the Ring and the areas within it. The approximately 30,000 residents of the city center and registered craftsmen with affected cars or vans are spared a flat rate. However, there will still be numerous commuters and visitors from the district of Munich itself and the commuter belt, who make up a large proportion of urban traffic. You can only apply for individual exceptions for vehicles in the affected emission classes. The city council should decide on the ban in October 2022.

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