This article was originally published by Christopher Carey on Cities Today , the leading news platform on urban mobility and innovation, reaching an international audience of city leaders. For the latest updates follow Cities Today on Twitter , Facebook , LinkedIn , Instagram , and YouTube , or sign up for Cities Today News.

Madrid’s controversial low-emissions zone (LEZ), Madrid Central , is set to be scrapped following a ruling by the Spanish Supreme Court.

Environmental group Ecologists in Action had fought to keep the zone in place, but was informed this week of the court’s decision to reject its appeal .

The group had challenged a ruling from the Madrid High Court in July 2020, which cancelled the LEZ over procedural technicalities, leaving enforcement in a state of legal limbo.

Speaking on the ruling, Madrid Deputy Mayor Begona Villacis said : “The Madrid Central plan to create a low emissions zone could [have been] a good idea…but it was executed in a very shoddy way.”

Villacis added that the city administration has a new LEZ plan which will be announced soon.

Madrid’s City Council has indicated that despite the court’s ruling, the zone remains in place, with offenders still liable for a €90 (US$108) fine should they enter in a polluting vehicle.

Adrián Fernández, Mobility Campaigner, Greenpeace Spain, told Cities Today : “The suspension of this low-emissions zone, one of the most ambitious and effective in Europe, leaves people of Madrid exposed to the risks that traffic pollution generates over their health and environment.”

Fernández also criticized Madrid Mayor, José Luis Martínez Almeida, calling his opposition to Madrid Central “irresponsible”.

Madrid Central

Introduced in November 2018, petrol vehicles registered before 2000 and diesel vehicles registered prior to 2008 were banned from a 2.9 square kilometer section of the city center, which is monitored by 115 cameras that record and cross-reference vehicle license plates.

Exemptions were made for electric vehicles, public transport and some delivery vehicles, with permits issued for the zone’s residents and their visitors.

The zone was previously suspended in July 2019 by Mayor Martínez-Almeida, only to be reinstated by a court a week later.

It was then suspended again in July 2020 after two appeals by the mayor’s administration.

Martínez-Almeida had previously stated that he was “not going to accept a single lesson from the left in the fight for air quality” after claiming that pollution in the capital had actually increased since the introduction of the zone in November 2018 by Madrid’s former left-wing mayor, Manuela Carmena.

Local media have reported it may take two months for the ruling to be implemented.

Drop in pollution

According to a report in Spanish newspaper El Pais , nitrogen oxide emissions fell by 38 percent in Madrid’s center during the first month of the zone’s operation, while carbon dioxide emissions dropped by 14.2 percent.

A January 2020 report by Ecologists in Action also revealed significant drops in nitrogen dioxide pollution at 22 of the 24 air-quality monitoring stations in Madrid when measured against the average of the previous nine years.

Although it saw a reduction in pollution levels at the beginning of the pandemic, Madrid has consistently failed to meet the European Union’s limit on nitrogen dioxide emissions since 2010, and the Spanish capital has been threatened with EU sanctions for breaching regulations.

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France is giving citizens $3,000 to get rid of their car and get an ebike

France is one of the latest nations looking to offer a cash-for-clunkers incentive to get people out of their cars and onto more sustainable means of transport.

The European nation is offering residents €2,500 ($2,975) to trade in their old emission spewing car, and get an electric bicycle. Yes, an electric bicycle.

[Read more: The biggest tech trends of 2021, according to 3 founders ]

It’s not set in stone just yet, though.

Earlier this week, lawmakers in France approved the measure in a preliminary vote. The French Federation of Bicycle Users claims that if France does go ahead with the scheme, it would be the first nation in the world to give people money for old cars to put towards new electric bicycles, Reuters reports .

However, the organization must be leaving out crucial details as to how it reached that conclusion as there have been other similar schemes.

For example, as Martti Tulenheimo, chief specialist at the Finnish Cyclists‘ Federation points out, Finland has a similar rebate which citizens have used to fund more than 2,000 ebikes, 1,000 new low emission cars, and 100 public transport tickets.

Lithuania also offered such a scheme last year . The nation’s Environmental Project Management Agency (APVA) offered residents €1,000 ($1,200) if they traded in their old cars. The money could then be used against anything from escooters, to ebikes, to public transport tickets.

The scheme was considered a success with more than 8,500 people applying for the grant.

Maybe France was just getting a bit giddy because the air quality isn’t as great as we think . Hopefully with this new grant, that will change soon enough.

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Is mobility tech killing traditional auto shows?

This article was written by Ross Douglas,  Founder & CEO, Autonomy, on The Urban Mobility Daily , the content site of the Urban Mobility Company, a Paris-based company which is moving the business of mobility forward through physical and virtual events and services. Join their community of 10K+ global mobility professionals by signing up for the Urban Mobility Weekly newsletter . Read the original article here and follow them on Linkedin and Twitter .

When I arrived in Paris five years ago to start Autonomy , I was invited to meet with the head of the Paris Motor Show on Avenue Montaigne – one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in the world. The newly appointed head had an office the size of the average Parisian apartment, and overlooking Gucci and Prada boutiques. The offices housed posters from various editions of the 120-year-old motor show’s illustrious history, which in its early years was based at the Grand Palais.

Motor shows have a great past and a very uncertain future. Five or six years ago, motor shows were at their apex and their model had not changed much in 100 years. Shows like the Paris Motor Show or the Frankfurt Motor show had all the big brands on board and received north of 1 million visitors. Not surprising given that in 2017, 95 million vehicle sales brought the world total to 1.3 billion – a milestone we will probably look back on as ‘peak car ’.

Today, auto shows are dying. The majority of new car sales have switched to corporates from consumers , who are instead buying second hand and holding onto their cars longer. In the US, over the last 25 years, the average age of active cars has gone from around eight years to nearly twelve years. In Europe the trend is similar with the average age close to 11 years.

The 3 fallen auto show giants

Europe has hosted three large auto shows which were founded in the early part of the 20th century: Frankfurt, Paris and Geneva. The IAA in Frankfurt is run by the VDA (Association of the German Automotive Industry).  The 2019 edition of the IAA was its last in Frankfurt. The show lost some big brands, like Toyota and Fiat Chrysler, and received half the visitor numbers. They also had to deal with climate change protests for the first time. One of the more militant groups, Sand in the Gearbox led by Tina Velo, used the show to confront the  auto industry about their climate record, in front of the press.

The Geneva International Motor Show was scheduled for the 3rd of March, 2020, but was cancelled the day before opening due to Covid-19, costing organizers 11 Million CHF and the participating OEMS major losses on investment. Venue owners, Palexpo SA, bought the show, which will only re-appear in 2022.

The IAA used to alternate each year with the Paris Motor Show as part of a friendly agreement and The Paris Motor Show should have taken place this October. AMC, the holding company of The Paris Motor Show, recently sold a 50% stake to Hopscotch, a brand and activation agency based in Paris that organizes world-leading car and fashion launches as part of their offering. Hopscotch hoped to use their savoir-faire to revive the show to its former glory but the timing could not have been worse. Car companies had a difficult Frankfurt Motor Show and then the Geneva Show was cancelled last-minute. Car brands were not prepared to commit to an auto show under the circumstances and Hopscotch retrenched all their staff, making it highly unlikely that there will be a Paris Motor Show in the future.

From “motor” to “mobility”: a complicated leap

For now, the only certainty is of the Germans hosting a motor show. The IAA did not renew with Frankfurt and invited Berlin, Munich and Hanover to bid for the show. Munich won the bid over Berlin and Hanover due to a 15 million Euro investment by Bavaria and a smaller one by the city. The IAA plan to convert the auto show into a sustainable mobility show with the car at the centre of the mobility mix. They are hoping that this will pacify the likes of Tina Velo and her fellow anti-carbon activists. It’s going to be a challenge to keep everyone happy. The car companies will still present their SUVs to a Munich audience who love big cars. The mobility operators will present their solutions as alternatives to car ownership and European cities will stay away because they are dedicated to creating car free cities.

Caught between two disruptions

Motor shows, if they are to survive, will increasingly rely on government support. The food chain used to work something like this: car shows attracted the world’s press, who covered the launch of new models (often supported by car adverts), which consumers all around the world read in their favorite publication. Half those publications probably won’t exist in a few years from now and sales budgets will increasingly be spent on cheap regional events that give potential buyers a chance to test ride and decide.

Thanks to COVID-19 and the rise of digital, major trade shows are being disrupted. Motor shows face added pressure from anti-car cities and climate activists. Businesses will need to think about new ways to communicate their offering and generate leads .

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