Mayor Giuliano Pisapia had reiterated it several times: the revolution is cultural, long-term, and should not be immediately measured in terms of Pm10 (or rather the famous fine dust that perverse in the air of Milan). The first days of Area C, the new toll for entering the city center by car which replaced the old Ecopass, are therefore to be seen positively, according to the municipal administration and according to a large number of citizens who, despite the first perplexities, welcomed with amazement and even , in some cases, a pinch of enthusiasm for the novelty. Despite the fact that the smog hasn't gone down at all so far.
In fact, there are many positive comments on the various ones social networks, from Facebook to Twitter: “It's nice to see freer roads at all hours”, “Area C, central Milan is a show..”, “Thank you! From today Milan C likes it more ". The Councilor for the Environment, Pierfrancesco Maran, posted a question on his bulletin board (“What do you think?”) which received 154 likes and 168 comments, mostly congratulations.
In fact, to decrease traffic decreased: on average, there has been a 32% reduction in circulation these days, equal to 40 thousand fewer daily accesses in the circle of the Bastions. And the pleasant impact, walking around the center between 7.30 and 19.30, catches the eye: it seems to see Milan on a Sunday, or in August.
But not all that glitters is gold. Again on the web, in fact, the anger of many citizens forced to use public transport has been unleashed, who according to the Municipality have all in all "responded well", but the data speak of 16 more passengers per day on ATM networks, who inevitably had some discomfort.
But most of all, the Pm10 nightmare has not been driven away. Not for now, at least. In the first two days of Area C, fine particles, whose maximum acceptable limit is set by a European standard at 50 micrograms per cubic metre, instead constantly exceeded 100: 101 mg/mc in Città Studi, 106 in via Senato and 108 in Verziere (the last two control units are even inside the Bastions).
This result, apparently disheartening, had also occurred a little over a month ago, on the occasion of the double day of total blockage of traffic during the Immaculate Conception holiday. But the data, in perspective, is far from disheartening. The reason is explained by Maria Berrini, president of Amat, the Milanese agency for mobility and the environment: “Area C acts on traffic and not on pollution. But it reduces polluting emissions: cutting traffic by 30% cuts emissions by 20%, which is the Kyoto target. Coming to health, we plan to induce the Milanese to use the car less and less reducing black carbon, the toxic component of PM10. Studies conducted, for example, in pedestrian areas demonstrate the correlation between traffic and black carbon”.
