The Clean Transport Zone in Krakow will be available to visitors in six months

The Public Transport Authority (ZTP) in Krakow announced that the draft resolution should be submitted to the city council in January, with the second reading and voting taking place in February. – This is a working project based on the opinions of residents so far – said Maciej Sergiusz Piotrkowski from ZTP. Online surveys on SCT ended on Friday. Comments on the draft resolution, published on the ZTP website, can be submitted to the ZTP until January 10.

Law and Justice councilors have already announced that they will try to relax the proposed provisions on SCT with amendments. – I cannot imagine that the project would come into force in this form. The officials of President Aleksander Miszalski propose much more radical provisions than the subordinates of the previous president, Jacek Majchrowski, and yet those proposals already aroused much controversy – said Michał Drewnicki, vice-chairman of the Krakow City Council (PIS).

He estimated that according to Majchrowski's project, “in a radical form it was to come into force from mid-2026, and the project of Miszalski's subordinates from mid-2025.”

According to the vice-chairman, “it is unimaginable that in just half a year some residents of Liszki, Zielonki, Krzeszowice, Czernichów and other neighboring communes will not be able to enter Krakow, where they often work.” – These are representatives of all professions, including teachers and city hall employees. And public transport is not the best, there are no transfer hubs, no park and ride parking lots – Drewnicki said. In his opinion, SCT should first exclude the most polluting cars, i.e. those with Euro 1 and 2 standards and those without any Euro standard.

The chairman of the Krakow Club for Residents, Łukasz Gibała, praises the division into Krakow residents and visitors made in the draft resolution. However, it criticizes the planned emission fee for entering the city for drivers from outside Krakow who do not meet the requirements. The project assumes fees of PLN 2.50 per hour, subscription fees of PLN 20 per day or PLN 500 per month. – Our health is being traded – said Gibała.

The chairwoman of the New Left club, Małgorzata Potocka, pointed out that SCT should be introduced gradually. In her opinion, it is necessary to take into account the difficulties that the new regulations may cause for small entrepreneurs commuting from neighboring communes. As for residents, they should – according to the chairwoman – use their cars “until they come to the conclusion that they can no longer drive these cars.” – There is also the issue of car scrapping and compensation for those who decide to replace the vehicles – she added.

In December, ZTP conducted consultation meetings on SCT in Krakow. Thursday (December 19) took place in a stormy atmosphere. When one of the participants asked those who support SCT in its proposed form to raise their hands, no one raised their hand. When asked who was “for” SCT only within the Main Square, almost everyone raised their hand.

The draft resolution on SCT assumes that the zone will apply to people from outside Krakow from July 1, 2025. Drivers who do not meet the standards would enter the city after paying a fee. Residents of Krakow would be subject to the requirements only from July 1, 2030.

The initial requirements for passenger cars with a petrol engine (including LPG) are the year of production at least 2005 or the requirement of an emission standard not lower than Euro 4. For diesels, respectively, the minimum year of production is 2014 or the minimum emission standard Euro 6. From July 1, 2030 The requirements for diesel engines would be tightened: a minimum production year of 2018 or the Euro 6dT emission standard would be required.

SCT would apply almost throughout Krakow, with exceptions allowing access to some hospitals or the motorway bypass, and excluding areas east of the S7 expressway. SCT would not apply, among other things, to: people with disabilities, historic vehicles.

During Jacek Majchrowski's government, councilors had already adopted a resolution on SCT. However, the administrative court invalidated it, finding that it was defective and, above all, did not clearly define the boundaries of SCT. Almost a year ago, the case was brought to the Supreme Administrative Court, which has not yet issued a ruling.

December 12 President of the Republic of Poland signed an amendment to the Act on Electromobility and Alternative Fuels. It assumes that cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants will have to introduce clean transport zones if the permissible level of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the air is exceeded. They will also have to buy only zero-emission buses.