Man in confusion. Joost d’Hondt stops a colorful delivery van for an apartment building, looking for the app on his phone with which he pays parking fees. But: can he drive here at all, in the zero emission zone within the Tilburg ring road, with a relatively new diesel van that he has rented? “I don’t know,” he says. “I saw plates and did not know if they were golden for me. At home I have two electric cars. But what should I do? How should I move else?” D’Hondt comes from Hulst and moves his studying daughter from Eindhoven to Tilburg, where she hopes to achieve a Masters in Psychology. D’Hondt points to the Ringbaan-Zuid, three hundred meters further, the border of the zone. “I should have stopped this car there and move on foot? That is a long walk.”
The uncertainty is growing, in seventeen municipalities with zones in the city center where since this year only trucks and delivery vans are welcome that do not emit any polluting substance. The chance of confusion is mainly increasing, now since the ‘habituation period’ for the measure in many municipalities has been over since the beginning of July and fines are actually handed out. These fines are digitally issued after registration of license plates on the zone boundary by cameras. Municipalities with these so-called zero emission zones are Amersfoort, Amsterdam, Assen, Delft, The Hague, Eindhoven, Enschede, Gouda, Groningen, Den Bosch, Leiden, Maastricht, Nijmegen, Rotterdam, Tilburg, Utrecht and Zwolle. Eleven other municipalities and Schiphol have taken the decision to introduce or are investigating this.
Thirty -year -old truck
Also in Tilburg has been maintained since last month, with thirteen cameras in a fixed place and two scan cars. On the Ringbaan-West, one of the round roads that limit the zero mission zone, Marcel Metske parks a small and noisy, almost thirty-year-old truck at a gas station, with which he transports a beautiful, black-red old-timer tractor. “I have lost the way,” says the trader from Klaaswaal, shortening a phone without working navigation app. While searching for the destination somewhere in the Brabant countryside, he threatens to enter the Tilburg zero zone zone. “Let’s hope I don’t get a ticket.”
The zero emission zones propose a difficult choice. If more municipalities are introducing them, he will now have to hire a carrier for the transport of agricultural equipment. Purchasing a new, electric truck is not possible for him. “Far too expensive. Only large companies have the money for that.”
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Tob about Action radius
The introduction of the zones, for which the plans were ready years ago, is a matter of municipalities themselves. The national government is only used laterally. “Municipalities are responsible and competent for the introduction of a zero emission zone. They are also responsible for monitoring and enforcement,” writes outgoing State Secretary Thierry Aartsen (Infrastructure, VVD) in a recent letter of Parliament. The ministry is limited to ‘maximizing, uniforming and standardizing the zero emission zones, “said Aartsen.
“The starting point is that the uniform national guidelines prevent a patchwork of rules for the entrepreneur.” Aartsen does, however, signal ‘worries that live’ among entrepreneurs. Some entrepreneurs have ‘insufficient budget for replacing the vehicle’, others complain about ‘uncertainty’ of the policy that can also change later. Furthermore, there are not always enough electric vehicles available, entrepreneurs are tormented about the range of their electric vehicle, and about the possibilities to be able to charge their vehicle.
The transport sector has made suitable investments in zero-emissions vehicles or can use the transitional arrangement or exemption options
Exemption
The introduction of the zones nevertheless seems to be quiet. Professional goods transport has ‘well prepared’, says a spokesperson for Transport and Logistiek Nederland. “People have made suitable investments in zero-emissions vehicles or can use the transitional arrangement or exemption options.” The logistics entrepreneurial association Evofenedex is also ‘positive’, especially since the measure also takes into account entrepreneurs remaining. For example, relatively clean, but non-electric vehicles are still welcome for five years within the zero emission zones, and you can apply for an exemption twelve times a year.
Moreover, there is clarity about the rules since the establishment of a National Central Counter, where exemptions for unambiguous rules in different municipalities can be requested. “Transporters ride on different cities. Then you don’t always want to be confronted with other rules,” says Lars Ahsman, policy adviser of Evofenedex. The exemptions apply to entrepreneurs who do not have money for electric transport, or to vehicles for which there is no electric alternative yet, such as large cars of market vendors.
Municipalities provide these exemptions. Such as in Leiden, where the spokesperson reports that an exemption due to economic circumstances has been ‘hardly’ requested, namely fifteen times. “In any case, as a municipality we know these kinds of exemptions and those with the necessary leniency for special circumstances.” Leiden started enforcement from this month. Exemptions are also possible for transporters who are unable to get enough electricity for their electric fleet, due to the congestion on the electricity grid.
Finally, the limited range of electric trucks also plays a role. That is why entrepreneurs want to be able to continue to use diesel trucks for the long distances. Discussions are on this issue in Amsterdam, Eindhoven and Utrecht, among others. This concerns the position of business parks. Ahsman: “In such cases we argue for a kind of notch in the zone, so that it remains workable for entrepreneurs.” For example, diesel trucks could continue to drive to business parks to unload their load there, after which further transport to the city center can be done electrically.
A supporter is the entrepreneurial association of broadening ‘window times’, periods in which entrepreneurs can enter inner cities to load and unload, with electric vehicles being given more extensive times than other vehicles. “That is a strong incentive from that.”
Introduction is going well
Anyway, the effects are now noticeable. Of all delivery vans and trucks within the zero emission zones in fourteen municipalities, 92 percent meet the requirements. And for municipalities, such as Amsterdam, who had already set up an environmental zone for cleaner cars before, that is even 98 percent. Then these figures do not yet take into account exemptions and exemptions. In addition, municipalities are reporting an increase in the number of electric vehicles since the beginning of this year.
The local measures follow on national objectives to improve air quality and, above all, to combat greenhouse gas emissions. Many cities have had the expected benefits examined. Leiden believes that in five years an average of 36,000 emissions -free kilometers will be driven with an annual saving of an average of 2,500 tonnes of co2-Moet, which, according to the municipality, is roughly equal to the CO2-Recording of one hundred thousand trees per year. “That is more than we currently have trees in public space.” The noise pollution will also decrease in Leiden.
Within the zero emission zone of the municipality of Tilburg, the emissions of greenhouse gases, according to a research report, would decrease with even 11,000 tons in five years. Here too the noise nuisance will decrease, the municipality expects.
There have been environmental zones in Amsterdam for some time, where only relatively clean cars are allowed to drive. So since this year the zero emission zone has been added, bordered by the center ring, the S100. A zero-emission regime also applies to moped and mopeds within built-up areas and to pleasure craft in the center area. “In the past six months we received many reactions from people who wanted to request an exemption and had questions,” reports a spokesperson. “Since the warning period has passed from 1 July, we have almost no new reactions anymore.”
A fine or not
The fines for the unauthorized entering the zero emission zones are equally high in all municipalities: 120 euros for a delivery van and 310 euros for a truck. “The administration costs are added,” said a Tilburg spokesperson. Whether the moving father from Hulst should fear a ticket? According to the spokesperson, that depends on the type of delivery van that has been rented. “It is wise to rent a van that the zone can go into.”
And the wandering trader in agricultural machinery? “A truck of almost thirty years old was previously no longer allowed to enter with us because of the then still applicable environmental zone,” said the spokesperson. “Unless he had a daily exemption.” When the trader drives away in agricultural machinery, he turns back, back to the highway, a few meters before a camera could photograph him. Get out of the danger zone.
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