While the number of registered cars is growing steadily throughout Italy, there is a clear decline in Milan: the result of the crisis, as well as measures to encourage car sharing and the use of public transport.
Milan is gradually getting rid of cars. In the city, less and less new cars are registered, but the eco-transport market is strengthening its position. Car enthusiasts tend to pollute less and switch to diesel. At the national level, the efforts of the region are quite noticeable: if in Milan the concentration of cars is 1.76 people per car, in Lombardy - 1.67, then on average in Italy this figure is at 1.61 people per car.
Another confirmation of the popularity of the trend was the statistics of car sales in 2010 and 2013: over four years, sales fell from 64,375 to 36,091 registrations per year (-43%), and this is no less than 28.5 thousand cars in absolute terms .
The car market suffered a real crash at the regional level, where sales declined 135 thousand cars. The main reason for this situation, of course, is the economic crisis. "Think of youth: it used to make up a significant share of the consumer market, now who of them can afford a new car?" - Marco Ponti, professor of transport economics at the Polytechnic University of Milan (Politecnico), commented. “This is an exceptionally dramatic aspect that you should pay attention to and not even try to look for positive aspects in it.”
“For some time now, not all Italians can afford to own a car because of the high cost of servicing it,” said Gianmarco Giorda of the National Association of the Automotive Industry, “and this is one of the main reasons people don’t just buy new vehicles, but also get rid of old ones. "
The decline in auto sales should also be considered in a broader sense: as a reduction in the total fleet of cars. The trend is that in Milan over the past 20 years the fleet has decreased by 200 thousand cars: if in 1990 922 040 private vehicles were registered in the city, then in 2012 it was already 716 094. A phenomenon that runs counter to regional and national statistics : over the past twenty years in Lombardy, the number of cars has increased from 4.8 to 5.8 million, and in the whole country the figure has increased by 10 million units.
As for Milan, this is the result of a gradual transformation that began with a revision of the urban space (the relocation of residents from the center to the outskirts of the city, where rental costs are lower and life is generally cheaper).
Special measures for unloading traffic also played a significant role: from improving the public transport system and introducing paid entry into the central part of the city (the so-called Area C) to organizing new car rental opportunities.
“The great achievement of recent years has been that the dualism of vehicles has been destroyed,” added Luca Studer, an environmental vehicle expert at the Polytechnic University of Milan. “Now, there are other, alternative, comfortable driving options besides your own or public transport. "
It should be noted that the authorities in Milan very actively support all environmental initiatives. A clear example of this is the construction of the super modern skyscraper Bosco Verticalale, which is a vertical forest.
