Traffic experts advocate city tolls in major German cities - revenues in the three-digit million range

Traffic experts are planning a city toll for Munich.

Just six euros a day could reduce traffic by 23 percent - monitoring is carried out using cell phone data.

Munich - Traffic experts from the Ifo Institute, the Technical University of Munich and the car manufacturer BMW * advocate the introduction of a city toll in major German cities.

"It is the last big weapon to get the traffic problems under control," said traffic technology professor Klaus Bogenberger on Thursday at the IAA Mobility * auto show in Munich.

"Anyone who can afford a BMW can also afford an anti-traffic jam fee."

A toll of six euros a day could reduce traffic in Munich by 23 percent, said Oliver Falck, head of the Ifo Center for Industrial Organization and New Technologies.

The city would have to collect it from every driver, “without exception, including for residents”.

The income of 600 million euros a year could be used for local public transport and for compensation payments to low-wage earners.

City toll: "Better than the current state"

TU Professor Bogenberger pleaded for a dynamic fee, depending on the traffic situation and route: "The price must not be static." He was disappointed that the Greens * governing in Stuttgart and Baden-Württemberg had not addressed the issue.

Carl Eckhardt, head of the BMW Urban Mobility Competence Center, said a city toll is better than the current situation and better than rigid bans.

"I am convinced that we will see that in Germany in the next few years." a vehicle has logged in. ”Bogenberger also emphasized data protection - it should not be followed all the way.

City toll: Retailers fear that they will lose customers due to the toll

Ernst Läuger, Vice President of the German Trade Association (HDE) and state chairman of the association in Bavaria, was skeptical: the shops and businesses in the city center feared losing customers through a toll.

Better than a car toll is a general mobility fee or flat-rate travel fee.

Because lanes and parking spaces have been eliminated, bicycles and e-scooters would have more space: “Why shouldn't that be priced too?”