Tax against polluting cars in Bucharest

The mayor of Bucharest, Gabriela Firea, proposes “Oxygen Tax for polluting cars in the capital city.

Mihai Pelin, 22.10.2019, 13:50

Starting January next year, at least 1 million car owners will have to pay a tax in order to have access to Bucharest and its central area, if a project announced by the city mayor, Gabriela Firea, is approved. Electric and hybrid cars, as well as Euro 5 and Euro 6 cars, will have unrestricted access throughout the city. However, polluting cars, namely those in the non-Euro, Euro 1, and Euro 2 categories, will not have access to Bucharest’s central area, according to the new version of the “Oxygen Tax” project.

The ban will apply to all cars, no matter where they are registered. For access to the rest of the city, drivers of polluting cars will have to pay an electronic vignette, named the “Oxygen vignette”, whose value is 3.1 euros per day. Euro 3 and Euro 4 cars will be allowed to access the downtown Bucharest area if they pay a vignette of 1.05 euros per day, 63 euros per month, 231 euros for 6 months and 420 euros for a year. Restrictions in the project will not apply on weekends and legal holidays and at night, between 10 pm and 7 am. Cars owned by public institutions are exempted from paying any of these taxes. Drivers who do not pay the tax will be fined with 315 to 420 euros. The amounts collected from fines will be used for works, investments and projects in the field of environment protection and urban mobility.

The project was launched for public debate and if approved, is going to be implemented starting next year. Data provided by the City Hall shows that 1.6 million cars are registered in Bucharest and Ilfov county. One in five cars will not be allowed to transit central Bucharest and more than 650 others will have to pay a vignette for that. Besides decreasing pollution, the project is also aimed at easing traffic.

In spite of coming up with a plan against pollution, in 2018 the Bucharest City Hall purchased 400 Diesel buses from Turkey, although a number of famous electric brands bade for the contract. Blamed for this directly, mayor Gabriea Firea said that the decision was exclusively taken by the City Hall experts. Electric buses are already used in other Romanian cities such as Cluj.

(Translated by Elena Enache)