The Giunta Sala does everything to improve the air you breathe in Milan, even with unpopular measures which aim above all to reduce the circulation of private cars. But the results for the moment are below expectations, indeed the latest data on Milan Traffic they even report a increase compared to the pre-pandemic period, when the use of public transport is decreasing. Figures that make you think and call into question the entire development of Zone B, the mega limited traffic zone that includes almost all of the municipal territory.

TRAFFIC IN MILAN: ACCESS TO ZONE B INCREASES BY +6% IN JANUARY

The photograph that makes the latest dossier published by AMAT, the Environmental and Territorial Mobility Agency of the Municipality of Milan, and disseminated by Repubblica.it, does not leave room for too many interpretations: in January 2023, access to Zone B increased by 6% on average compared to the same month in 2019, with peaks reaching 23%. And increases of up to 18% were recorded in February. In short, the traffic in Milan is not decreasing at all, as it was in the hopes of the Milan council, on the contrary, it is increasing and not even slightly. With the paradox that compared to 2019 access bans to zone B have become more restrictive and since last October they also include Euro 5 diesels. However, it must be said that the bans can be circumvented by numerous derogations which partly attenuate the scope of the provision.

TRAFFIC IN MILAN: USE OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT IS DOWN

Even figures on the use of public transport in Milan do not support Mayor Beppe Sala’s policies. Indeed, the metro records a 20-25% drop in passengers, a dispersion that began with the pandemic, when people avoided taking buses and subways for fear of the virus, and which shows no signs of returning now that the health situation has returned to normal. Perhaps the choice, legitimate from the point of view of costs but devastating in terms of practice and image, to increase tickets for public transport weighs there. AND at the end not even parking rates paid too well: transactions at parking meters collapsed by -55% between February 6 and February 12 with absolute values ​​falling from 20,000 per day to less than 10,000.

ONLY ONE TICKET FOR ZONE B? THE ROOM SAYS NO

A very unpleasant situation, especially considering that the Municipality of Milan cannot afford to lose this type of income for obvious budgetary reasons. And it is useless to recall that if the municipal coffers remain empty services to people are decreasing However, there is certainly no shortage of ideas for recouping losses. But look, they all have one common denominator: put your hands in the pockets of the citizens. Among the proposals examined are in fact the blue lines also for residents, the extension of paid parking to other areas of the city (and the extension of the deadlines for application), the increase in the price to enter in zone C and, why not, a tickets also for zone B. Even if this last hypothesis, very inflated by the newspapers in recent days, has already been categorically denied by Sala himself.