When the state (municipality) hates you!

A few days ago, the Sofia Municipality boasted about how many inspections were carried out in three days in Sofia (editor's note - why exactly in three days, since inspections should be carried out constantly) for air pollutants... It turns out that air pollutants are known and are checked in order to report an inspection. So there were 158 inspections. 9 acts of violation were drawn up, and as a sign of concern for people's health, the Sofia Municipality also introduced the measure "green ticket" for public transport and free buffer parking lots on January 19 and 20.

What they checked:
- 252 inspections were carried out at car repair shops, workshops and other sites, potential sources of air pollution;
- 143 inspections were carried out at private properties, and 10 criminal procedures were initiated for violations;

Out of 150 inspections of construction sites, 39 acts were drawn up to establish an administrative violation.

And, of course, we cannot help but come to the violations of the introduced bans on entry of cars of eco-category 1 and 2 into the area of the “small ring” in the center of the capital. We have written a lot about the topic in FACTS.

But what are we reading now?
To date, over 1,500 notifications have been sent for violation (????) of the ban on cars entering the “small ring“ zone. Since the introduction of the low-emission zone on December 1st until now, the number of violators has halved and currently averages around 2,000 per day.

And since we at FACTS follow the topic, we will just add that at the beginning of December, when the ban came into effect, an average of 3,000 “dirty“ cars were entering the “small ring“ PER DAY. The fine is 50 leva for a personal car and between 1,000 and 2,000 for a company car. 3000 cars per day are 150,000 leva in FINES.

And now the Sofia Municipality is boasting that the number of cars that are not allowed to enter the center of the capital has decreased from 3000 to 2000!? 2000 cars enter the “small rank“ and they face a fine of 50 leva, if we assume that they are all personal. This is 100,000 leva in fines!?

And so far over 1500 notices of violation have been sent!? If we assume that in December 3000 “dirty” cars entered on average per day, if we remove the Christmas days when Sofia was empty, let that make about 70,000 cars for the month. And the Sofia Municipality has sent 1500 notices of violation!? 1500 fines from about 70,000 violators!?

The comment is unnecessary.

And the fact that 2000 cars are now entering is considered a decrease in the number of “polluting“. Again, no comment. And the main reason that cars from eco-category 1 and 2 are still entering the “small ring“ is the lack of information. PEOPLE DON'T KNOW! It's good that the ban is valid until the end of February. There's still a little left.
And what will happen in 2028, when cars that receive eco-category 3 at the Annual Technical Inspection will also not be able to enter the “small ring“. How much will the fines be then…