Munich or Berlin want to make the city center completely or partially car-free. A congestion charge, similar to that in London, is also discussed again and again. The younger they are, the less they think of it.
This is the result of a representative Civey survey of more than 5,000 people aged 18 and over commissioned by “Automobilwoche”. 56 percent reject a congestion charge. Almost a third of those surveyed would be in favor of it. Most supporters of a downtown car use fee are in the older age bracket, 49 and over: just under half would be against it.
The younger, on the other hand, the lower the willingness to pay. “Younger consumers in particular are refusing to pay for journeys into city centres. More than three quarters (77 percent) of 18 to 29 year olds see no solution to reducing inner-city traffic,” reports the “Automobilwoche”.
German cities are also considering charging tolls – both to reduce traffic and to improve their city coffers. Cities around the world approach the issue of traffic limitations in very different ways. In London, for example, there has been a steadily increasing toll for the city for years as well as driving bans for older cars, especially diesel vehicles. Other cities such as Barcelona largely block entire districts for car traffic with so-called “superblocks”. Another option are license plate-based driving bans: on certain days only cars with even number plates are allowed to drive, on others only those with odd numbers on the number plate.
