Daniel does not plan to change the routine when 2020 arrives. He plans to continue leaving with his car from the Meridiana so that his wife, Irina, arrives at work in El Prat de Llobregat before 5.30 hours and then follow the usual route to Sant Cugat del Vallès to access your post at 6.00. The habit would not deserve greater importance if it were not because Daniel and Irina travel from Monday to Friday in a 1999 tourism without an environmental label, which sentences it as a polluting vehicle in the eyes of the administration and impassable by most of the streets of Barcelona during business hours starting next January 1 .
«With a mileurista salary and paying a rent, I cannot afford a new car. And I endure it so as not to lose my job », Daniel opposes. He does not see a combination in public transport that fits his need so early and argues that he will be forced to continue driving his vehicle 20 years old every day. "I have no choice," he says. He risks that, as of April 1, fines of at least 200 euros will fall every time the 70 cameras or agents that will monitor that the prototypes of gasoline before 2000 and diesel before 2006 do not skip the veto The City Council of Barcelona and four of its crown plan it to try to reduce air pollution within a radius of 95 square kilometers, where they aim for 50,000 vehicles to stop traveling next year and to be 125,000 fewer in 2024 than those that are They move now every working day.
What the couple scores is not an isolated feature, affirms the Platform of People Affected by Circulatory Restrictions (PARC), emerged with the first movements to contract the circulation in the Catalan capital and its contour. The association has designed a resource model that it intends to present in a chain so that its 2,700 associates defend themselves from reprimands when they are imposed. They allege labor reasons, the right to free movement or the inability to move in any other way due to force majeure. At the same time, the 10 days of grace a year that are expected to be granted to the vehicles indicated are deemed insufficient to step on the asphalt again.
"Today, people are very hot," warns David Llort, president of the PARC, that it is not proposed that the group call to disobey the regulation. "For the moment," he clarifies immediately, and adds that they will have to consider it if the members decide in assembly. They expect at least 400 drivers to support a mobilization in Barcelona next Saturday, in which they want to cut traffic at the Gran Via junction and Paseo de Gràcia.
Contrary to reduce the vehicles that circulate, the association advocates catalysts and other devices to adapt the models to the requirements. «We agree that there is a climate problem and that it must be reduced. But the solution is not the ban, ”Llort says. The PARC demands a gradual implementation of changes until 2030 - for when the European Union is challenged to reduce pollutant emissions by 30% - and measurements of each vehicle to test whether or not they actually comply with the requirements.
Among its members, the fissures that question the accuracy of environmental adhesives are suspicious. The General Directorate of Traffic has admitted that there are vehicles appropriate to the regulations that have not received accreditation because, for example, they are given registered in November 2005, two months before when the cut of those who do receive the adhesive was imposed. This is what happens with the Mercedes of Sebastià Rodríguez's partner. “It is the same engine as the others, but the problem is enrollment. My wife leaves work in Sant Boi at five but until eight you will not be able to enter Barcelona. Should we wait three hours? ”He asks. The PARC advises dealing with the manufacturer to request a certificate with which to claim the sticker.
Sebastià says that his work in Santa Perpètua de la Mogoda is an hour and a half away by public transport and about 20 minutes more on foot from the nearest station. «In 20 minutes I am with my car. I would accept to go by public transport if they were about 40 minutes, but I also enter at six in the morning and, for schedules, I cannot access, ”he emphasizes. He concludes that he has nothing left but to take his Opel "and see how far you can go with Justice." While waiting to argue against the draft ordinance, the PARC does not rule out litigating with a dispute. «If I had money to change my car, I would buy an economical one, but what if I have the right one? Why should I buy another one, like hybrids, that pollute more? ”Asks Sebastià.
The regulations that Barcelona and four municipalities process exclude some vehicles, such as those of people with reduced mobility. Silvia Couceiro regrets that the exception does not include a situation like her own: she has a minor child with cerebral palsy who needs to go to the hospital frequently and also takes care of two more children of school age. «I go with a Ibiza from 2000. With the bus I could get to the hospital, but my son would not be able to go by subway, he would get nervous. And how would I pick up those other school children these days? And it's not 10 days a year that I need doctors to take care of us, but many more. Paying mortgage and large family, it is impossible to buy a car ».
Roger Boné sees bad omens for his business, two workshops in which he states that 80% of customers are affected by the restrictions. «Every day I get a lot alarmed . They ask me what they can do with the car, ”he confesses. He estimates that this year accumulates a 41% drop in turnover, given that drivers are discouraged from repairing vehicles that will soon be limited to cross the city. "We are going to create more unemployment," Boné fears, who believes the averages are "discriminatory" depending on whether "a car has been bought before or after, which does not mean it is more or less polluting."
Fret investment. Cristina Couceiro acquired at the beginning of 2016 a van of 1997 for 11,000 euros that she has not just paid until next May. However, he will not be allowed to enter Barcelona since January 2020. "I bought it when nothing was known yet," he says, adding: "How am I going to throw it away if it is the dream of my life?" . Boné also has 6,000 euros in a classic model: «Are they going to pay us what we have spent?».
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