Common sense? No chance in Britain
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
Meanwhile in Madrid
(2 posts)-
Posted 6 years ago #
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The key word in the standfirst is "freely". As is explained in the body of the article, petrol and diesel lorries will still be allowed in to make deliveries*, but at restricted times: 7am to 1pm, or 7am to 9pm if they meet the latest petrol & diesel emissions regulations (Euro6). What's not clear is how much commercial traffic that will prevent. In Edinburgh most deliveries seem to be made during the day so I doubt those hours would make much odds here. Madrid might be different (though not actually that much different, judging by the description of the commercial traffic in the first few paragraphs of the article.)
And that's only in the "downtown" area. Based on the vehicle registration date thresholds given in the article, the plan for the wider central area would seem to be aimed at allowing in Euro3 petrol and Euro4 diesel vehicles. IIRC the proposal for the Edinburgh LEZ would set the diesel limit at Euro6, which would therefore be better - if it ever happened.
* I don't know about Madrid, but in Edinburgh the interpretation of "loading" (which includes unloading ie making deliveries) that most commercial vehicle drivers seem to work to is, shall we say "flexible" at best. (At worst, it's ignored totally by the DILLYGAF minority. I once watched while a delivery driver parked his truck so as to completely occupy the northbound bus stop at Morningside Station at about 8:30am, and then shrug and come out with the usual "where else am I supposed to stop?" excuses while the parking enforcement dude wrote him a ticket, and traffic backed up further and further towards the Cluny Gardens/Balcarres Street lights. The straightforward answer to his question was, of course: "not here".) The situation is certainly not helped by the DfT having chosen not to issue a formal definition of "loading" (reference item 229 in that link).
Posted 6 years ago #
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