Driving into Madrid centre could cost

Madrid is to expand a pilot scheme by which car owners who don't live in the city centre will be automatically fined €90 if they drive in without having a guaranteed pre-booked car parking space, writes Brian Byrne.

The scheme will involve 1.36 square miles of the city centre area, double the space of the pilot scheme which was limited to two barrios (neighbourhoods). And the city also plans to pedestrianise a further 25 percent of the centre than currently is the case.

A number of through-routes are exempt from the scheme, but if a driver turns off them in the scheme's area, his car's number is automatically recorded, and he'll get the fine automatically if the system shows there's no pre-booked public parking space listed for the vehicle.

There's no restriction on local residents, while delivery vehicles can travel through the areas on weekday mornings and motorcycles have a curfew after 10pm until 7am.

The first elements of the scheme, in one barrio, were introduced ten years ago. With the latest extensions, it will cost the city €500,000 a year to police.

Madrid has the second-largest underground metro system in the world, and has expanded its efficient city bus services by a third in the last eight years, so there's plenty of alternatives to driving in to the centre to work.

Pic: Gran Vía (Madrid) 44" by Jean-Pierre Dalbéra - Flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.