Abertis Mobility Services (AMS) has entered a partnership to provide cities and public transportation agencies in Spain with solutions to implement low-emission zone (LEZ) projects.
AMS is Abertis' electronic solutions company, working with its electronic and free-flow tolling businesses Emovis and payment systems operator Eurotoll.
The new Climate Change Law within the Spain 2050: Foundations and Proposals for a Long-Term National Strategy requires all cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants to set up an environmental zone by 2023. The introduction of LEZs is expected to affect 150 Spanish localities with more than 24 million people, 52% of the inhabitants of Spain.
Project partner Yunex Traffic is to bring hardware, software and service components. The LEZ enforcement system covers roadside equipment such as cameras as well as a central IT system. Part of the service will include predictive data for traffic and pollution to help decision makers implement an appropriate air quality strategy.
Albertis CEO Christian Barrientos says: “According to the WHO, 9 out of 10 people breathe highly polluted air each year, for this reason it is urgent to establish measures to reduce pollution within cities, as is the case of low emission zones.”
Yunex Traffic CEO Markus Schlitt describes LEZs as “one lever” on the road to more sustainable mobility.
“We have already gained a lot of experience in previous Lez projects and are happy to take our expertise into other regions,” Schlitt says.
“To reach the ambitious goals in making traffic more sustainable and thus making cities more liveable, we need to widen our networks and form strong partnerships.”
Meanwhile, in a separate contract in the UK, Yunex has been awarded a contract to supply 37 Zephyr air quality monitors by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. They will be installed in existing traffic signal locations across six authorities, with the option for a further 10 to be installed if required.
The monitors will integrate with the existing Yunex Traffic Stratos traffic management and control systems, which enable trends in environmental data to be reviewed and analysed. The information will also be used to provide timely interventions and enable strategies to be implemented based on real-time pollution, temperature and humidity data, as well as the prevailing air quality levels.
