Traffic and Congestion Management in Italian Urban Areas: Is Pricing Manoeuvring

The progressive, never-ending, increase in mobility, together with the parallel continuous shift towards private motorised transport modes, in a context of compact, narrow and usually ancient cities, makes the congestion problem dramatically serious in Italian metropolitan areas. This scenario has firstly led to the introduction of command and control measures, with various attempts being made to restrict car traffic at the local level: starting with the introduction of pedestrian areas, followed by daily traffic bans and the circulation of alternate number plates (recently re-proposed), and then the widespread implementation of ZTL (Limited traffic zones) since the second half of the 1980s. More recently, pitfalls emerged with regulatory measures have stimulated the implementation of pricing mechanisms to manage urban mobility in another direction. The paper assesses the main characteristics of this course, paying a specific attention to two main forms of disincentives: A) Parking pricing, which has constituted an initial attempt to integrate and (in some cases) replace the ZTL policy in order to attain a more efficient demand selection (compared with normative bans), and the extension of management policies beyond historic centres; and B) (Hybrid forms of) Road pricing, which can be interpreted as indicative of interest by local authorities in exploring the implementation of new and more sophisticated economic instruments for urban traffic management. The final part of the analysis focuses on the launch in 2008 of the Milan area pricing scheme (Ecopass), taking the form of a year-long trial, which assumes major symbolic value, since it becomes part of a restricted group of international experiences, contributing to the definitive maturation of road pricing, and, at the same time, takes place in a national context where the supremacy of the auto-centric culture has so far been scarcely affected. The conclusions mainly focuses on the problems encountered in the implementation of the process and on the challenges to be faced to make the Ecopass a true turning point towards a wider and more effective use of the economic levy in urban congestion management.