Expected for seven months, the results for the period between January and June 2009 of the Ecopass experiment were published yesterday morning on the website of the Municipality of Milan.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himThe controversies of recent days born around theEcopass, the pollution charge established last year in the Milanese city to reduce thin emissions, and the need to test or not with a survey the approval of the system by the Milanese citizens - also in light of the not at all encouraging one created by Ispo - have finally concrete data on which to continue to feed. Expected for seven months, the results for the period between January and June 2009 were published yesterday morning on the website of the Municipality of Milan.
23 fewer admissions per day compared to the first half of 2007 when the trial had not yet started, that is - 14,4% of cars in the Ecopass area. This is the figure announced by Palazzo Marino which made the Mayor Moratti raise his head and breathe a sigh of relief. Even if then, to go and analyze it well and compare it with the data of 2008, it is not so significant then: a substantially unchanged decrease compared to the previous year. Indeed, from the point of view of municipal revenue there is even a drop: "only" 5.881.855 euros compared to 7.3999.312 in the first half of 2008. This is because the overall share of vehicles subject to payment of the ticket has decreased (classes 3,4,5), a figure this speaks of Ecopass' success in terms of the “structural effect on the composition of the car fleet in circulation”.
However, there is also an increase in those who do not buy the car back, but simply leave it at home and access the Ecopass area with By public transport - 7,1% faster than in 2007 - and, in particular, those who use the subway, approximately 22.200 more passengers per day (8,6%)
Positive effects also on road accidents in the areas and during the time of application of the provision: 621 against 703 in 2007, a reduction of 12% which rises to 19% if we consider only those with injuries which decreased by 4,4% compared to those of 2008.
And the environment? Apparently in the Ecopass area, the average concentrations of PM10 decreased from an average of 47ug / m3 in 2008 to 46 ug / m3 with "only" 54 days of exceeding the threshold set at 50 ug / m3, six in less than in 2008.
Satisfied Letizia Moratti and the commissioner Edoardo Croci who comments: «the first six months of 2009 from an environmental point of view were the best ever in the history of Milan. It is very evident that since Ecopass there have been significant improvements even if there is still a long way to go and we must not let our guard down ».
Simona Falasca
