Congestion Charge – Sicily Style

Ok, so Cammarata decides Palermo needs a congestion/pollution charge. As Palermo doesn’t actually have any infrastructure in which to implement a per-user charge like London, or indeed any traffic management plan that I can discern, the city has been split into 3 zones;
Zone A; the southern part of the city centre
Zone B; the northern part of the city centre
Everywhere else.

Zone Map Palermo

Typically Italian style, the whole thing is extremely cumbersome and buearocratic. No simple rules for us here in Palermo!

To start with, the type of car you have affects what zones you can use. If you have a care Euro 0, 1, or 2 standard car, you can’t get into Zone A.

If you have a Euro 3, you can access both zones…

and if you have a nice new Euro 4 or 5 standard car, you don’t have to pay a thing.

So, all those rich people with big Mercs and Beemers, don’t pay a penny, but all the poor sods who can’t afford better than a creaking Fiat 500, get done for 15 euros.

And it doesn’t stop there, no sir! Burdensome and slow is just part of Italian state, we’re beyond that here! This is where the “Sicilian” style comes into it!

I saw that the Vodafone shop in via Marchese della Villabianca was selling the cards, so I assumed that Vodafone got the contract to sell them – hah, I was thinking like a northern European again! Silly me.

No, just that Vodafone shop. Suspicions as to why and wherefor shall remain unsaid, thanks to Italian libel laws…

So what’s everyone to do? I’ll telll you; wait outside the Vodafone shop, having added one’s name to the list, and sit in the baking heat until the staff deign to open the doors to a lucky few customers. And the shop didn’t start selling them until 4pm, by which time there was 130 names on the list, and some 2 dozen people waiting.

And the process takes 15 minutes per card…

Congestion charge, Sicilian style!