Bologna, Italy
Restriction of Automobile Traffic in the Historical Centre City

Abstract

In Bologna, Italy, the large increase in motor vehicle traffic inside the historical city centre, which was built for pedestrian traffic over centuries, has lead to unsustainable conditions for the environment, people, and buildings. In order to maintain the city's diversity, a massive restriction of car traffic was the imperative. The aims were to increase mobility through public transport, cycling, and walking and to raise thequality of life and livelihood of the urban centre for visitors and residents.

Background Information

Bologna, Italy, (pop. 450,000) is the capital of the northern Italian region "Emilia-Romagna". The city is a centre for the service industry and well-known for its university and exhibitions. Bologna has an unusually large city centre, where about 65,000 people live and about 120,000 work. It covers an area of almost 4.5 square kilometres with a diameter of about two kilometres inside the medieval city wall.

Another special aspect of Bologna city centre is the dense network of small, irregular streets; about one fourth of the streets downtown are one-way streets less than five metres wide. Before the restrictive measures, the urban structure had to handle up to 6,500 cars per square kilometre. This made cycling and punctual public bus services impossible. The historical centre is surrounded by an 8-kilometre long, four-lane ring road.

The measures restricting automobile traffic required a referendum (popular vote), which took place in 1984. Seventy percent of the population voted in favour of the selective restriction of the centre city for private automobile traffic. This strong public support enabled the local government to plan and rapidly implement traffic restrictions, which can still be considered radical today.

Implementation

In July 1989 the entire historical centre of Bologna was converted into a "zona a traffico limitato". The traffic restriction is in force from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. for all private cars, except for the following motor vehicles having access permits:

buses of the public transit operations;
taxis and emergency service vehicles;
cars belonging to residents (about 25,000);
vehicles belonging to trade businesses located in the inner city;
delivery vehicles (only at set times);
vehicles belonging to shop owners (with limited length of stay);
hotel guests.

Altogether the local administration distributed about 82,000 access permits in autumn 1989.

Aside from the access restrictions in the historical centre the following measures were implemented:

reservation of the (up to then) public parking spaces for residents and businesses; the residents however are only allowed to park in their own quarter;
introduction of a 30 kilometre per hour speed limit in the entire access restricted area;
re-organisation of the municipal bus transit services;
establishment of park and ride lots on the periphery;
extension of the short term parking zones on the edge of the historical centre;
strict surveillance of access through parking control;
extension of the pedestrian zone at the expense of an arterial road.

On the main street blocked to car traffic bus lines were established; some streets were even completely reserved for bus traffic. The buslines serve the park and ride lots on the periphery among other areas. The bus fare is about US$ .75, which is very inexpensive.

Results

The 30 kilometre per hour speed limit makes safety possible for pedestrians, cyclists, and cars travelling next to each other, without the necessity of expensive construction measures. The public bus system profits from the access restriction, because service has become faster and more punctual in the inner city.

According to data from the local government the number of cars driving into the centre city daily has been reduced from 152,000 in 1981 to only 58,000 in 1989. This equals a drop of 62%. At the same time the bicycle, taxi and motorcycle traffic has grown. In addition sinking ridership on public buses was able to be stopped (2).

Despite a lack of short term parking spaces, the park and ride lots have not been utilised very much. Still no additional traffic burdens, for example traffic due to cars searching for parking, have arisen in the urban districts next to the restricted access zones. This is the case, because the existing parking spaces are constantly filled with cars owned by residents anyway. Also, on the ring road around the historical centre no significant increase in traffic volume has been observed (1).

Financing

The measures implemented in Bologna were almost completely achieved through organisational measures avoiding any physical changes to streets or buildings. The entrances into the historical centre were only marked with signs showing restricted access, so that no large investments had to be made. Bus transit services, which operate with a cost-cover percentage of only 20%, are funded by the city.

Only further measures, such as the planned extension of the park and ride lots, the building of parking garages along the ring road, and the building of a tangential street network to lower traffic volume in the historical centre, would result in larger investments.

BUND-Commentary

The Bologna concept can surely not be called a "car-free city centre" or the "largest pedestrian zone in the world", because in the historical centre there are still many cars due to the high number of access permits. But in comparison to other Italian cities, the present circumstances in Bologna are "heavenly". It must be critically noted, however, that the restrictions end at 8:00 p.m. Evening "leisure time traffic" pours out onto the streets and forms long car lines through the old centre city and ruins evening walks.

On the other hand, according to the last survey from 1989 automobile traffic has diminished by 62% on an area of two square kilometres. This is a result that seems even more noteworthy, since it was accomplished without large financial investments.

This shows that comprehensive reductions in car traffic even with no government budget, meaning without investments reaching into the millions, are possible simply through the instrument of prohibition and control - since parking control pays for itself normally.

But what is missing in the Bologna concept, is a programme for the comprehensive promotion of public transit. Such a programme would encourage people travelling into the city centre to use environmentally friendly modes of transport. In addition, considering the high traffic volume an extension of the bicycle traffic infrastructure would be advisable.

The medium- and long-term measures of the concept developed by Prof. Winkler for Bologna must be critically analysed under the aspect of environmental protection. The establishment of further short-term parking spaces on the historical centre ring would only draw more traffic from outside, which would lead to a heavier traffic burden in districts surrounding the historical centre.

Also the extension, or rather the completion, of the ring-shaped connecting streets on the periphery would have the unfavourable side effect of accelerating and attracting automobile traffic. These are measures, which lead in the opposite direction of environmental protection principles.

Additional Information

Contact

Senior Ing. Renzo Pezzi
via Lombardia 3/c
I-40139 Bologna
Italy
Tel: +39-51 / 54 10 03

Acknowledgement:

This case has been provided by the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) from their publication "Vorbildliche Kommunale Transportprojekte" (1993).