Polluting drivers in Milan will get a choice on their driving limitations

The MoVe-In project will restrict city cars with their driven distance rather than with their time availability

Milanese authorities announced that the city will join the MoVe-In regional experimental project from 1 October. This applies specifically to Zone B, meaning the rest of the city excluding the historic centre - or Zone A.

MoVe-In, as an acronym, actually makes more sense in Italian. It is derived from the full name of the project Monitoraggio dei Veicoli Inquinanti, which translates to Monitoring of Polluting Vehicles.

It gives drivers in Zone B, which limits the use of the most polluting vehicles in urban areas from Monday to Friday between 7.30 and 19.30, to exchange one restriction for another.

The project is already underway in the regions of Lombardy and Piedmont

They can volunteer to have a black box installed in their car, which will give them the chance to also drive during the day but with a cap on the number of kilometres. Authorities argue that this will give more flexibility and freedom to drivers without compromising the air quality in the city since it will still reduce emissions.

"The tool adopted by the Lombardy Region, to which our Municipality will adhere, allows you to manage the mileage limits of vehicles belonging to polluting classes in an effective and timely manner. At the same time, it does not penalize those who use their cars with small deviations from the regional and Milan environmental prohibitions and allows them to continue to use them in case of need," clarified Marco Granelli, Councilor for Mobility in Milan.

With the introduction of MoVe-In in Zone B, those who own an old vehicle subject to circulation restrictions but still use it occasionally will be able to choose between two options. In fact, in Zone B, free annual admissions are already possible for 5 days for non-residents and 25 for Milanese residents. With Move-In, however, it will be possible to circulate without a limit on days or hours but within a certain number of kilometres. 

In order to join the trial project, the citizen must register with the regional digital platform and place a black box on his vehicle that will log the distance travelled. In Zone B this device will interact with the cameras placed at the access gates for effective and timely control. 

The particular credit of kilometres that each vehicle can travel within the zone will depend on its category. For example, a Diesel Euro 3 (the most polluting class) can drive up to 1,500 km/year, or about 29 kilometres per week, including weekends.

Authorities have stated that the data collected is only used for the project and statistics and will not be shared with third parties, as per European regulations.