Following the example of Sofia, Plovdiv is banning old cars in the city center. This will happen from October 1, NOVA reported.
Since then, the Plovdiv municipality has been introducing a low-emission zone. The restrictive ring in Plovdiv will be valid for 7 months, not 6 - as in the capital. And for the first few weeks, instead of the electronic system for detecting violators, it will rely on employees from the municipal enterprise “Parking and Repatriation“, who will carry out checks on old cars.
The measure is extremely controversial and has caused a wave of dissatisfaction. Protests are even being prepared - for now only on social networks. From October 1 to April 30, in the quadrangle between the central boulevards "Tsar Boris the Third Unifier", "Sixth September", "Russian" and "Hristo Botev" the movement of diesel cars manufactured before 2007 and gasoline cars - before 1998 will be prohibited. The penalties for violators will range from 25 to 500 euros.
Proycho Kunchev will not be able to reach the city center with his 23-year-old car starting next month. His car falls into the prohibited eco-category.
"Few people will be able to afford to change them. I prefer to take a taxi to the center than take out a car loan," says the driver.
He does not think that his car pollutes the air. "For me, it runs without a problem. There is no knocking, no banging and it does a perfect job for the city", he notes.
Business is also affected by the restriction. Pancho's bus, which transports joinery, is 25 years old. "When we collect money, we will replace the bus. Until then, we have no opportunity. We do not have a bus, even this one is currently rented so that we can move around the more central part of the city. We are not ready for this. We are not ready in any case. The Bulgarian after all the changes, after everything, is so poor", he commented.
For now, the municipality plans to put up only signboards. The electronic automatic control system will not start due to an appeal against the public procurement. The control will be carried out by the employees of the blue zone.
"They will be able to check through their devices which environmental group the motor vehicles that enter or are there belong to. But in the beginning, in order to make it easier for citizens to accept it, in case of a violation, the owner of the vehicle will be sought and a letter will be sent to him or he will be warned by phone that he no longer has the right to enter this ring with this vehicle," said the Deputy Mayor for Ecology of the Municipality of Plovdiv Ivan Stoyanov.