Budapest – New traffic regulations are planned to reduce air pollution
Budapest – due to excessive air pollution and massive traffic chaos, congestion fees are planned to be introduced in the Hungarian capital. Furthermore, the admission of diesel cars is also scheduled to be restricted within the next five years.
Diesel exhaust is considered to be the most air polluting exhaust gas on Hungarian roads.
Due to their harmful effect on the environment, some German cities have already banned the usage of diesel cars, and now Budapest is also planning to introduce similar regulations.
According to Dávid Dorosz, the Deputy Mayor responsible for climate protection, not only diesel cars will be affected by the restriction.
Drive-in cars are planned to be admitted to the capital only by paying a certain amount of fee, regardless of the type of fuel used. He emphasised that the goal of the five-year-long plan is to improve Budapest’s air quality.
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As Hungarian news portal szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu reports, the measure is considered to be necessary due to the increasing number of diesel cars and the excessive level of air pollution. In Budapest, nearly 30% of the cars are diesel vehicles, while in the case of buses, this amount reaches 95%.
Besides congestion fees, public transport is also planned to be improved in order to facilitate access to the city and transportation within the city. According to the Greenpeace expert, the restriction should affect truck and bus traffic as well.