The low emission zone covers the approaches to Gertrūdos Street, Gimnazijos-Birštono Street and Karaliaus Mindaugo Avenue, with 10 number plate scanning points installed.
Martynas Matusevičius, head of transport and traffic unit at the City Municipality, says the new system will not affect businesses in the city centre in any negative way. The new local fee is actually expected to reduce transit in the city centre, making it even more attractive, according to the official.
„The traffic is really heavy; it is the transit traffic. We used to observe a constant flow of cars going through the Old Town. If we look at the statistics, we see that about 30% of the cars are passing by, i.e. they spend less than 15 minutes in transit,“ he told the LRT public radio on Thursday.
Fee exemptions will apply to natural and legal persons with real estate, owners of pure electric vehicles, special services and disabled persons.