The diesel driving ban is showing its first effects.
Figures from TomTom, a specialist in navigation systems, support this conclusion.
Munich – Since February 1, there has been a diesel driving ban in Munich for vehicles with emission standard 4 and worse.
Has this city council decision already had a quick effect on Munich's streets?
For this purpose, our newspaper had data collected by TomTom, a specialist in navigation systems.
The traffic movements on Wednesday, January 25 - i.e. one week before the driving ban came into force - were compared with those on February 1, at peak times between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. and between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.
And indeed: According to an initial analysis, the tendency to congestion had decreased within the entire environmental zone when the driving ban started on February 1st.
85 percent of all trips measured there were faster than on the same day of the previous week.
Munich: Diesel driving ban shows first effects in several places
According to the TomTom data, effects could also be observed on the old town ring road – i.e. also within the environmental zone.
The average speed there increased by 1.5 kilometers per hour.
Driving around the entire old town ring took around one and a half minutes less than on January 25th.
An example: The average speed on the Altstadtring was 12.6 kilometers per hour on February 1st and 11.25 on January 25th.
Not a big difference, but clearly measurable.
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Munich, middle ring.
(archive photo)
© IMAGO/Manfred Segerer
TomTom's traffic specialists were also able to read a smaller amount of GPS data on February 1st.
An indication that at the start of the diesel driving ban there were fewer cars on the Altstadtring.
The company cannot provide absolute figures.
But traffic expert Ralf-Peter Schäfer from TomTom explains: "The higher speed and the improved traffic flow are very reliable indicators that fewer vehicles were on the road on February 1st." However, Schäfer also emphasizes that this assumption should definitely be checked by a longer-term observation of the traffic become.
"A single day is not enough for a reliable statement."
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Diesel driving ban: What is the traffic like outside the ban zone in Munich?
On the Mittlerer Ring, which the city has also declared a no-driving zone for older diesel engines, the average speed has also increased slightly by two to three kilometers per hour according to the first random sample - in the morning from around 30 to around 33, in the evening from 21 to 23. The level of traffic jams in the city as a whole was 51 percent on January 25, compared to just 46 percent on February 1, according to TomTom data.
This means that on the first day of the driving ban, the drivers had a significantly lower loss of time.
Beyond the no-driving zone, on the other hand, no clear development can be seen in a week-to-week comparison.
According to the TomTom data, the number of GPS measuring points on the various access roads has mostly remained approximately the same.
The same applies, for example, to the speed on the A9 or the B304.
On the A94, the average speed has decreased slightly by three kilometers per hour, on the A95 it has increased slightly by one kilometer per hour.
On the A995 and the B13, the cars were significantly faster by seven kilometers per hour.
The coming weeks and months will show whether all of this is due to chance.
Weather data presumably had no influence on the surveys.
The road conditions were relatively the same on January 25th and February 1st.
In each case there was no precipitation.
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The extended driving bans for older diesel cars have been in effect in Munich since Wednesday, February 1st.
© Sven Simon / IMAGO
Fewer cars affected: Driving ban not for “almost 80,000” but for 42,465 cars
The anger about the diesel ban does not stop.
Now it is clear: the city has miscalculated.
In Munich, not around 70,904 vehicles are affected by the first stage of the driving ban (Euro 4/IV and worse) from February 1, but only 42,465.
The number 70,904 comes from March 2022 and was communicated in October when the city council dealt with the driving bans.
Opponents of the diesel decree also like to speak of almost 80,000 Munich residents affected.
However: "The number of vehicles reported in March is too high, since there are double counts, especially in connection with the retrofitting of vehicles with particle filters, some of which were reported in several emission classes after the conversion," says a spokeswoman for the district administration department on request.
"This was not recognized in the evaluation in March."
The total number of Euro 4 diesels registered in Munich has also changed because vehicles have been deregistered.
In addition, there are vehicles that are no longer registered in the Munich city registration district due to moves or sales.
However, this alone cannot explain the enormous diesel discrepancy.
"We regret this difference.
Overall, the relatively short-term implementation of the diesel driving ban for the KVR is an immense feat of strength, so that unfortunately the double counting occurred in the short time.”
In fact, 23,414 Euro 4 cars are registered in Munich.
The pollutant classes below add up to 7,364.
In addition, there are 11,687 trucks that are also affected by the diesel driving ban.
(ska)
You can find more current news from Munich and the region at
tz.de/muenchen.
List of rubrics: © IMAGO/Manfred Segerer
