2024-03-21 08:01:07
– Government council supports anti-Tempo 30 initiatives – city reacts harshly
Two popular initiatives from the SVP and FDP are fighting speed limits of 30 km/h on cantonal roads. The cantonal government supports the concerns. The city of Zurich speaks of an attack at speeds of 30 km/h.
Published today at 9:01 am
Current bone of contention on Rosengartenstrasse: The city wants to set a speed limit of 30 km/h, but the canton is opposed.
Photo: Urs Jaudas
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What speed should apply on main traffic axes? There are several initiatives pending in the city and canton of Zurich. One of them is the “mobility initiative”. The cantonal popular initiative by the SVP and FDP demands that the canton alone decides on the maximum speed on the main roads in the future and only reduces it in exceptional cases. These days the speed limit is usually 50 on these streets.
The cities of Winterthur and Zurich currently have the authority to adapt the signaling on roads of supra-municipal importance in their own areas. And that’s what they do. Various sections are signposted at 30 km/h. And the two cities have announced that they will reduce the speed on other cantonal roads, primarily due to noise reasons.
The initiative, in turn, aims to standardize the enforcement of maximum speed limits throughout the canton and is directed once morest the traffic and noise policies of the two large cities.
The committee submitted the initiative in June 2023. The first addressee is the government council. And he announced in a statement today that he supports the “mobility initiative”.
Speed reduction with “drastic consequences”
Reducing the speed might have “drastic consequences” for all traffic, the government council explains the decision. This might lead to longer travel times on public transport or a shift in traffic to the neighborhoods.
The reduction in speed on main axes also has a “serious” impact on the use of blue light organizations, as they have to get to their location as quickly as possible.
For these reasons, the government council considers the proposed change to the road law to be sensible and is requesting that the cantonal council adopt the “mobility initiative”. “Traffic must be able to flow on the main traffic axes, because an efficient road network is of great importance for our economy,” says Economics Director Carmen Walker Späh (FDP).
Consistent preference for public transport
The core concerns of another cantonal initiative, the “public transport initiative”, also launched by the FDP and SVP, are also receiving support from the government council. The aim of the initiative is to ensure that public transport is slowed down as little as possible by structural measures or traffic regulations, because this would make public transport less attractive compared to private transport.
The initiators assume that the delays would also result in additional costs – including for the purchase of additional vehicles in order to still be able to stick to the timetable. The communities themselves would have to bear this, according to the demand.
Counterproposal to the public transport initiative
On this point, the attitude of the government council differs from that of the initiators. That’s why he presents a counterproposal. The cantonal government also wants to promote public transport “as a decisive factor in achieving the cantonal transport and climate goals,” as Walker Späh says.
However, it is more effective to compensate for lost times before additional costs arise. For example, by consistently giving priority to public transport on the streets using a bus lane or making adjustments to the timetable.
Since the lost time cannot always be compensated for, the counterproposal provides for compensation for the costs of additional vehicles by the canton “as a last resort,” as the communication states. However, the respective road owners would have to contribute to the costs, and the amount will be calculated on a case-by-case basis.
City condemns “attack at 30 km/h speed limit”
The Zurich city council is reacting decisively to the “attack on the 30 km/h speed limit,” as it wrote in a statement. Speeding 30 km/h in the city is an “important measure to reduce noise, improve traffic safety and ensure high-quality residential development”.
The city council not only criticizes the attitude of the Zurich cantonal government, but also the efforts at national level to impose a speed limit of 50 on main traffic axes. The National Council recently approved and even tightened a corresponding initiative by the FDP in the Federal Parliament.
In mid-July 2021, the Zurich city council announced that it wanted to introduce a speed limit of 30 km/h on the city’s streets in order to protect the population. Today, 140,000 people in Zurich are affected by excessive street noise where they live, the city council continues. This makes it all the more important to take measures at the source, i.e. when the noise is generated on the street.
SP: Car lobby wins
The city’s voters supported this strategy by adopting the municipal traffic plan in 2021, emphasizes the city government. The initiatives at cantonal and national level undermined noise protection. They were aimed directly at cities like Zurich and wanted to take away their powers. The city council writes that they would undermine municipal autonomy.
The SP also reacted outraged. The government council allows itself to be “harnessed to the cart of the car lobby” at 30 km/h, it says in a statement. With its support for the “mobility initiative” and its counter-proposal to the “public transport initiative”, the government council is undermining municipal autonomy and preventing effective measures to protect the population from noise and accidents.
SVP: “Left-green traffic prevention bubble bursts”
The SVP, on the other hand, speaks of a directional decision with which the government council takes the real concerns of the population into account. The speed reductions introduced in the past were imposed without the participation of the population. In many communities and cities where the population might decide on the introduction at a community meeting or a ballot box, the nationwide introduction of 30 km/h speed limit was rejected.
With the current decision by the government council, the “left-green traffic prevention bubble” will burst. This was also shown by the proposals “fortunately” passed in the Federal Parliament in the last few days, which aim in the same direction.
The SVP is demanding that the municipalities stop implementing speed reductions until the referendum on the mobility initiative.
FDP sticks to public transport initiative
The FDP is also pleased with the government council’s decisions. It is now up to the cantonal council to take responsibility for public and private transport on the main axes “that does not stall due to the ideological transport policy in the left-green governed cities,” as the party writes.
The counter-proposal to the public transport initiative has an “approach that can be discussed,” it is said. The traffic light also lights up green here. In principle, the FDP is sticking to the initiative. It shows the “consequences of incorrect speed reductions crystal clear”.
The point of contention is 30 km/h
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