FROM IDEA
TO ENVIRONMENTAL ZONE
IN GÖTEBORG
ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENTAL ZONE WORK FROM THE 1990ʼS UNTIL TODAY
THE CIVITAS INITIATIVE
IS CO-FINANCED BY
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
FROM IDEA TO ENVIRONMENTAL ZONE
INTRODUCTION
Next year, 2006, ten years will have passed since the environmental zone was introduced in Göteborg. To put it
simply, the environmental zone is an area in the city centre where heavy diesel-driven vehicles cannot be driven,
that is if they do not satisfy specific requirements. The story of the origin of the environmental zone is one of local
authority entrepreneurship, a successful combination of people, decision-making and cooperation. Göteborg,
Stockholm and Malmö were probably the first in the world to introduce a zone with special environmental rules
regarding heavy traffic.
VISION, STRATEGY AND EFFECTS
The environmental zone work envisaged creating a
world class traffic environment. The strategic aims were
to bring about a markedly improved living environment
by reducing both air contaminants and noise. The introduction of the environmental zone meant that companies were forced to advance investments in new and
improved vehicles or to improve the exhaust cleaning in
their existing vehicle pool. At the same time, improvements were also achieved outside of the environmental
zone, since the vehicles concerned spend most of their
driving time there.
In one sense, you can also say that the introduction of
the environmental zone has contributed to forcing relevant vehicle manufacturers to speed up their technology
and product development.
Businesses within the transportation industry who
chose to make early investments in order to satisfy the
requirements in the environmental zone have been able
to observe a greater level of competitiveness and thereby
profitability; correspondingly, the players who did not invest have lost clients and compromised their possibilities
of pulling through.
Other partly unexpected effects are the business development within local authority companies that the environmental zone work has led to. A whole organisation
can be affected by a good example. Finally, the goodwill
that the project has brought to the city must not be forgotten; it is always good to be first with something new!
PRACTICAL AND TECHNICAL ISSUES
One of the major stumbling blocks has been the way
in which the vehicles are classed and the rules and regulations are worded. In order for all this to function, it
Heavy vehicles allowed to drive in the Environmental
Zone have this decal in the front window.
needs to be simple and easy to comprehend. The rules
must also enable the implementation of appropriate inspections.
The ground rule is based on the fact that local authorities are able, by virtue of the Traffic Order, to forbid
heavy traffic within the area that is particularly sensitive
to disturbances.
By way of introduction, vehicles were delimited on the
basis of the environmental class to which they belonged.
Since 2002, this has been altered to year of registration.
Vehicles more than eight years old quite simply cannot
drive in the environmental zone.
It is important to check that this is being complied
with for several reasons. It creates an incentive for companies without vehicles that are adapted to the environmental zone’s requirements to start a change process,
plus it is reasonable for the companies that have made
investments in new technology and new vehicles to have
the competitive advantages that are actually offered by
the environmental zone rules.
The environmental zone issue was first realised through
an amendment to a rule in the Swedish road traffic regulations in 1992, which was the start of preparation
work within the Traffic and Public Transport Authority
in Göteborg. During 1993–94, an informal and broadly composed reference group was formed, participants
from, among others, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, the Swedish Association of Road Haulage
Companies, Bil Sweden – representing manufacturers
and importers of cars, buses and trucks – and the equivalents of the Traffic and Public Transport Authority
in Stockholm and Malmö. The Swedish National Road
Administration participated with a limited input, principally concerning the legal aspects of the environmental
zone work.
The environmental zones comprise a relatively hefty
intervention in the individual person’s and enterprises’
possibilities of running a business. In order for such a
change process to be able to succeed, it is therefore necessary, among other things, for it to be well supported
by facts, preferably with a stable scientific basis, as well
as, and even more importantly, by the way in which various players are involved in the work.
It is well known from other areas that people who feel
that they have no forum to put forward their points of
view, or that they are not being listened to, can develop
strong resistance to the change.
Parallel processes
Change processes are sometimes described as neither sequential nor parallel in nature. The sequential process
is characterised by each level of an organisation being
able to start change work only when all necessary decisions have been made at the level immediately above.
The risk is that the last level has far too little time; here is
where you also find a generally negative attitude towards
change. Change work with a parallel process outlook involves several levels at once. The management thereby
renounces part of the control, but often obtains a more
complete decision basis.
For many, the restrictions brought about by the intro-
duction of environmental zones went on in some cases
to generate strong opposition. A higher level of broad
participation within the transportation industry may
have been able to limit its effects. This participation
could have been created with a more pronounced parallel process outlook. It would have been beneficial to
ensure more systematically that the industry’s organisations were participating, and not just individual haulage
contractors.
Cooperation
The cooperation between the three cities has been of
crucial importance. There was a core of politicians and
civil servants from Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö
right from the start. Göteborg, who initiated the environmental zone work, then went on to retain the initiative through the years. There are several explanations
for this, but one important factor was probably the fact
that the Traffic and Public Transport Authority had simultaneously developed into a “client organisation”,
from previously almost having been characterised as an
“operator organisation”. A client organisation embraces
more dynamics and development.
Cooperation was necessary from the start; it appeared reasonable to apply the same rules and systems in all
towns with regard to the transportation companies that
operate throughout the country. The joint project has
encouraged cooperation in the other areas and has generally been perceived as enriching with an exchange of
incentives, ideas and arguments that have strengthened
the local work.
Management
The successful implementation of such a radical change
as the introduction of an environmental zone requires a
decisive, flexible and committed management, and more
often than not also courageous. Without real enthusiasts
in management positions, such a project would be difficult or impossible to implement. It is possible that further
discussions concerning management, anchorage and
communication in the reference group may also have assisted the managers with other players in the project.
FROM IDEA TO ENVIRONMENTAL ZONE
THE PROCESS
INFORMATION
The introduction of environmental zones in Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö changed the work terms and conditions for many transportation companies in one foul swoop. The information work has therefore been run with a
high level of ambition. A brochure was distributed to all 50,000 bus and heavy goods vehicle owners in Sweden
in plenty of time before the environmental zone rules began to apply. Advertising in the trade press and the specialist press as well as information campaigns through trade associations and similar supplemented the efforts.
The reactions were strong to say the least. Many people rang the relevant traffic offices, both concerned and
astonished. In more recent years, more comprehensive information has been put up at entrance rest areas along
the main roads and on the Internet. There are smaller advertising boards by all entrances to the environmental
zone.
The map shows the Environmental Zone area
Signs like this are placed at all entrances to the Environmental Zone
e-mail: hanna.johansson@trafikkontoret.goteborg.se
phone: +46 31 612158, mobile: +46 702 007213
AGADEM AB, Göteborg, 9966-0511, Graphic Design: Johanna Åkerberg
For further information, please contact
Hanna Johansson
Traffic and Public Transport Authority
P.O. Box 2403, SE-403 16 Göteborg
Sweden