The city of Milan is the winner of the 2014 edition of the Transport Achievement Award, for its "Area C" pricing scheme.

The Transport Achievement Award is an event promoted annually by the International Transport Forum at the OECD, an intergovernmental organisation for the transport sector with 54 member countries.

The award was presented to the city representatives on May 21st, on the occasion of the International Transport Forum's Annual Summit in Leipzig, Germany.

"Area C" is a road pricing measure introduced in Milan in January 2012 following a referendum in which 79,1% of voters supported the upgrade of an existing, limited charge to cover more vehicles and a wider area.
Area C Limited Traffic Zone covers 8.2 km2 in Milan city centre where the access is restricted from Monday until Friday during day time. The cars entering this area are detected by 43 electronic gates equipped with Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology. The programme proved successful on different levels: the vehicle accesses to 'Area C' fell by 28% and reduced congestion, the road crashes reduced by 26%, the emissions of Particulate Matter (PM10) reduced by 10% and CO2 by 35%.

The jury recognized that the introduction of the "Area C" congestion charge by the City of Milan demonstrates a significant effort in improving the urban transport system. After identifying that the existing congestion pricing scheme was no longer achieving its objectives, the Municipality of Milan had the foresight and political courage to design a more effective replacement, and the capability to successfully implement it. The jury applauded the positive involvement and support by the citizens, and noted that this initiative provides an excellent example of bringing together the two dimensions of congestion and environment.

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