Dozens of Spanish cities set dates for B and C label bans

B and C labels: the calendar tightening the squeeze on cars in cities

Estepona is among the first. From January 2025, no car without a badge—and those with B or C labels—will be allowed to circulate in the municipality between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. What Madrid launched by banning access to its Special Protection Low Emission Zones (LEZs) for those not parking in a contracted parking lot has ceased to be a local experiment. Dozens of cities have now set dates for B and C label restrictions, and the calendar is advancing faster than many anticipated. The question is no longer whether it will arrive, but when it knocks on the door of each neighborhood.

Cities that have already set dates for the ban

Catalonia peine the floodgates. The Generalitat government decided that none of the 24 Catalan cities with LEZs will allow B label cars to circulate from 2028, a deadline that will be brought forward to 2026 if air quality worsens. In Andalusia, Málaga capital will apply its restrictions in 2027, while Estepona brings them forward to January 2025. In the Community of Madrid, Getafe already requires non-labeled and B label cars to park in a lot if they want to access the zone, closing entry from 2026; C labels are banned in 2027. Palma de Mallorca removes B labels in 2027 and C labels in 2030. The map is thus completed:

• Bilbao: B labels out in April 2025, except for residents
• Getafe: B labels out in 2026 and C labels in 2027
• Palma de Mallorca: B labels in 2027 and C labels in 2030
• Valladolid: no labels in 2025, B labels in 2028 and C labels in 2030
• San Sebastián: B labels in 2028

Less than 25% of mandatory LEZs are active

The figure that breaks the narrative: less than 25% of cities required to activate a Low Emission Zone actually have them in operation. Some argue that the ban circulates ahead of the public transport that should replace the car. In Zaragoza, according to one participant, prior pedestrianization had already emptied the center, so the restriction affects a handful of streets and excludes vans, trucks, and residents: a rule that almost complies with itself. In Valencia, on the other hand, another comment asserts that practically the entire city has become an LEZ. The asymmetry between what is announced and what is applied fuels a suspicion among drivers: that the goal is less about air quality and more about the gradual withdrawal of private vehicles.

LPG no longer rescues old cars

For years, conversion to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) was sold as a backdoor to keep the car, according to several participants in the debate. The fine print closes it. The technical sheet lists the vehicle's Euro regulation, and an old car with Euro 3 does not get a better badge by installing gas: one would have to request a certificate from the manufacturer, which rarely grants it. The system's behavior also changes. With gasoline, LPG can function as bifuel, gasoline only, or gas only; with diesel, the system's operation is more expensive, and its description generates discrepancies among users. The result, they claim, is the same for the driver: same label and an extra bill. Some see ECO labels as the next step, with internal subdivisions included. Others recall the precedent: first, smoking areas were prepared in bars, and then smoking was banned in the entire establishment.

Courts do not stop the calendar

The judicial front exists, but several participants describe it as being traversed in vain. In Barcelona, according to accounts, the LEZ went to court and the battle was won: the response was to change four sentences in the text and republish it. In Madrid, the annulment of the rule by the High Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) has not halted municipal plans, which continue their course. There are associations, they add, that present statements of objection against the ordinances and have managed to overturn them in several municipalities, but the process starts again. The conclusion repeated among those trinc these procedures is uncomfortable: the administrative route delays, but does not block.

The car, from consumer good to primary necessity

Here the issue ceases to be environmental and becomes economic. One participant points out that prices in the entry-level segment have skyrocketed, and the simple utility vehicle that took you from A to B without frills has practically disappeared from catalogs. Major manufacturers are cutting production, the 2035 horizon points to the end of the combustion engine, and European brands are rearranging their plants, with SEAT's restructuring as an uncomfortable symbol, according to these comments. For others, in a country where a car or van allows you to live if things go wrong and to travel to look for work, losing a vehicle is not perceived as a traffic inconvenience. It is perceived as a loss of patrimony. Hence the antiestéticar that does not jump from the pot: each removed label normalizes the next.

Ads are not lacking: Madrid, Catalonia, Andalusia, the Balearic Islands, Castile and León, and the Basque Country already have calendars on the table. What does not appear anywhere is the mobility alternative that should have arrived before the prohibitions. With less than 25% of mandatory LEZs functioning, the ban is not behind the rule. It is far ahead.