Luxembourg City's air quality has not only stabilised itself, but also improved over the past few years. The municipal authorities' environment officer Pierre Schmitt highlighted the progress on Wednesday morning at City Breakfast, all while stating that improvements should continue to be made.
Car and bus traffic play a central role when it comes to air pollution. One of the most important air quality measuring stations examines the stretch between the Boulevard Royal and the Avenue de la Liberté. Even on this busy route, nitrogen oxide levels have fallen for the last ten years.
Contributing to this decrease is the introduction of electric bus fleets and the tram. In the next ten years, 90% of the city-based bus routes will use electric buses.
Schmitt earmarked car traffic as an area which requires improvement, especially on a European level: he claims that emission values of the industry must remain within the caps.
Luxembourg City councillor Patrick Goldschmidt confirmed that the number of cars and buses travelling over Boulevard Royal is consistently dropping. Two years ago, the authorities would count over 18,000 cars in one day. Last year, that number fell by 2,000.
Of that number, Goldschmidt explained, more than 3,000 of those vehicles were buses. The city's goal is to ensure that only buses that are in use travel over the busy road, which could have a positive impact in reducing the circulation of several 100 or even 1,000 buses.
The city's authorities hope to raise awareness amongst residents with panels showing the air quality levels at strategic areas, which in turn the authorities hope will encourage residents to cycle or take the bus.
This method of raising awareness seeks to show residents that they are in part responsible for ensuring that the air does not become too polluted.
