The Portuguese capital, Lisbon, has created a low-emissions zone (LEZ) in the city centre that bans older cars from entering during peak hours.
Cars registered before 2000 will no longer be allowed to enter what is known as ‘Zone 1’ between 07:00 and 21:00, while cars from 1996 or earlier will also be forbidden from driving within Lisbon’s outer ‘Zone 2’.
Lisbon’s Mobility and Transport Councillor, Tiago Farias, said that the objective is to ‘reduce the concentration of pollution in the central area’, while ‘promoting more active habits, like walking and using public transport’.
The new rules are part of a third phase of a noise and pollution-reducing plan which was first implemented in 2011 and later extended in 2012.
However, pollution readings still exceed the maximum limits established by the European Union. Lisbon expects that the new LEZs will reduce pollution by approximately 10 per cent. Emergency vehicles, cars belonging to residents, motorbikes and natural-gas vehicles are exempted from the restrictions.
