On 1 July 2003, electric cars entered the public transport lane on the E18 for the first time.
– It has saved me weeks of my life, probably months, says Wenche Langlie from Hvalstad.
– Admittedly, I drove with pole water in the first few years, because the car was virtually without a heater.
With the scheme, she halved the travel time, she estimates. From Hvalstad to the job in Oslo it now took 20 minutes one way. Without the same opportunity, it would quickly take twice as much.
Starting this Monday, all electric car owners had to join the queue with the others. After 21 years, the special arrangement is being discontinued, due to extensive roadworks in the center of Oslo, and it is no longer legal for electric cars to drive in the public transport zone.
First out in the right lane
The opportunity to whiz past the morning rush hour was a major factor in Langlie purchasing the blue and silver Think.
When the electric cars entered the public transport lane in 2003, Langlie was one of the first to jump into the right-most lane on the motorway. Even before the signs were in place along the E18, she was ready, she says today.
To be on the safe side, she first checked with the police that there was a clear path.
– But then I was stopped and fined anyway, she says.
– I complained about that.
It ended with the fine being waived.
In recent years, she has taken the train, after the car park at work disappeared. She doesn’t mind that the electric cars now lose the opportunity to park in the public transport lane.
– Now I will soon be retired, but I think it is terribly badly done, quite simply, to introduce this at such short notice. People have arranged their lives according to this.
Electric cars have used the public transport lane for 21 years – on Monday it will be banned
Doubling in five years
In the last five years, the number of electric cars on the road has exploded.
In 2018, electric cars accounted for 20 per cent of all passing through the toll ring in Oslo. In 2023, the figure had increased to 40 per cent. Along the city border with Bærum in the west, the proportion is sometimes even higher. In the morning rush hour, more than one in two cars – 52 per cent – are electric cars. This is shown by a survey from Vianova.
– That says something about the development, says Halvard Gavelstad, traffic project manager at the Norwegian Public Roads Administration.
– Traffic in the public transport lanes has increased accordingly, i.e. doubled in the last five years.
But from Monday 6 May there will be an abrupt stop.
– It has become more and more challenging with electric cars in public transport lanes, and this contributes to significant delays for bus traffic, says Gavelstad.
– We want to take the electric cars out of the public transport area, in order to prioritize bus traffic.
With the electric cars gone, the buses will be ensured better accessibility, higher speed and thus also provide better capacity for bus traffic.
– On the night of Monday and the night of Tuesday, we will sign all national and European roads in Oslo and Akershus, where we will remove access for electric cars in the public transport area. Then the electric cars must drive in the ordinary fields together with the others, says Halvard Gavlestad.
The arrangement is temporary, and will initially last for three years.
2.2 million in fines
Many people have saved a lot of time by whizzing past the queue on the E18 on their way to work. For others, it has cost dearly.
In February this year, the fine was increased from NOK 7,800 to NOK 8,200 for driving illegally in the public transport lane.
So far this year, 265 road users have been stopped in the public transport lane on the E18 in Asker and Bærum. In total, they have had to fork out close to NOK 2.2 million in fines, according to figures Budstikka has obtained from the police.
– It is obvious that people have good advice. This is not something you can deduct from your tax, says John Fiksdalstrand in the police.
Where and when they check is random, say the police.
In an overview from 2022, Tuesday stands out as a particularly bad day for stealth drivers.
At the same time, men are greatly overrepresented in the figures.
Three times as many men as women were caught speeding in 2022, shows an overview for the entire Oslo police district. The age group 33–43 years is overrepresented in the statistics.
Doll in the passenger seat
Many have tried creative solutions along the way to avoid standing in queues.
In 2017, an electric car driver was stopped at a police checkpoint at Strand in Bærum with a special travel companion.
From the summer of 2015, it was no longer enough to only use an electric car to be able to drive legally in the public transport lane towards the capital. Between 07.00 and 09.00 you were only allowed to use the field if you had at least one passenger.
To meet the demand, the man had placed a mannequin in the passenger seat – with a black wig, sunglasses and bubble jacket. The doll was securely fastened with the seat belt on.
“The driver was allowed to drive on, NOK 5,300 poorer – the proposal was approved on the spot,” the police later wrote on their Twitter account.
Afterwards, comments poured in. Some praised the driver for his creativity, while others believe it was fair and reasonable that he received a hefty fine:
“Poor man, it’s not enough that the lady is missing both arms and legs, but she’s expensive and…”
Forgot the old woman and kids
The man with the passenger dummy was not the only one, says police superintendent Inge Frydenlund in the Traffic Corps in the Oslo police district.
– There were several who used similar tactics, where the intention was clearly for it to appear as if you had a passenger with you, he says.
There was everything from a hat over the headrest to bags on an angle. Others advocated that the dog was a passenger or placed cuddly toys in the passenger seat.
The vast majority put their cards on the table when they are stopped, says Frydenlund.
– Most people realize that the solution they have tried will not work, says Frydenlund, and explains that most matters are settled on the spot with a simplified preliminary hearing.
Others quickly explain when they are waved aside that they thought the children were in the back or the wife in the passenger seat.
– People are quick when they answer, but I don’t believe that so many forget that they don’t have their wife in the seat next to them.
– Does not come by itself
When the scheme was introduced in 2003, only one new electric car was sold in Bærum. In Asker, not a single one was sold.
In 2010, electric cars still accounted for less than 2 percent of new car sales.
Then it caught fire.
In 2023, electric cars accounted for 89 per cent of new car sales in Asker and 79 per cent in Bærum. This is shown by figures from the Road Traffic Information Council.
Leader Per Maltun of the Oslo and Akershus electric car association is afraid that it could affect sales when the electric cars are now thrown out of the public transport sector.
– I think it is one of the advantages that it is a bit early to reverse, says Maltun, who lives in Stabekk.
– I think it would be wise if we could continue to use the public transport field, because the policy that has been pursued for electric cars in the last 8-9 years has been a real success. We know it works, says Maltun.
Norway aims for all new cars sold in 2025 to be emission-free.
– Electric cars now make up around 90 per cent of new car sales. That’s great, but this doesn’t happen by itself. When it now stops and you don’t get the same electric car benefits, in addition to more taxes, you can risk a setback, he believes.
Because there is still a long way to go, according to Maltun.
– Only around 36 percent of all passenger cars in the whole of Norway are electric cars. I think many politicians forget that a bit, he says.
– But it’s getting tight in the public transport area?
– Yes, we understand the challenge and it is quite clear that public transport must go forward. But it could perhaps be solved in other ways, both with times and the number of people in the cars, he says.
Maltun itself has driven electrically since 2013.
– I haven’t looked back since. I will never drive petrol or diesel again. I don’t see any downsides.
Solved the time crunch with an electric car
Thor Ingham (44) lives in Nedre Billingstad, works in Oslo city center and is easily worried about what Monday will bring when he can no longer lie in the public transport zone.
Every other week he has to deliver the children aged eight and eleven to Mellom-Ne’s school.
– Now we have also got a puppy that goes to dog nursery at Syverstad farm.
The puppy must be delivered after the children have been delivered to school and collected before the youngest leaves after-school. That solitaire is unlikely to end when new rules come in from Monday.
The fact that the children’s football training ends at 16.30 on Wednesdays and starts at 17.00 on Mondays and Thursdays is an extra joker. So far, it has been possible to solve it by car.
– I’m a little excited. I have no other solution than to be late on the days I have early meetings. Because I’m going to drive, says Ingham.
Now there will be four days in Oslo and the home office on the fifth.
Ingham understands that they do what they do, he says, the bus has to go.
– The ideal would of course have been to take public transport, he says, but notes that time constraints and trains always end up in the red.
When he has finished delivering the puppy and children, the commuter car park is full.
– I see that many people park their car at Ikea and take the bus. I don’t know how good it is, but it’s probably the best option I’m currently on.
– Significantly higher queue formations
Halvard Gavelstad in the Norwegian Public Roads Administration believes many commuters will follow the advice to travel by public transport on Monday.
– But there will probably be significantly more queues than normal, he says.
For Budstikka, the project manager has previously estimated that car traffic will increase by 20-25 per cent in the ordinary fields from 6 May. This means significantly more queues and extra delays – primarily in the morning and afternoon rush hours.
The electric cars are not removed just to give the buses a clear path, says Gavelstad.
The Hammersborg Tunnel on Ring 1 in central Oslo is to be rebuilt. Along the way, the tunnel will be completely closed to cars, so it is necessary to reduce car traffic into the capital.
– Normally, we would only close one race, so that traffic could pass through the other. But because of terrorism protection, we have to lower the entire tunnel, he says.
– Then we have to close both races and the disadvantages will be twice as great. This means that we have to have fewer cars in the city centre, both electric and fossil-fuel cars, and more on public transport, he says.
Tomm Berger, section leader for traffic in the Oslo police district, is excited about how the new rules will affect the traffic picture.
– We are prepared for it to be a bit chaotic in the first few days, with extra traffic and traffic challenges. But we hope that people realize that this is here to stay and now consider traveling in a different way than by car if they can.
– Will you tighten the controls in the public transport area in the next few days, or will the drivers get some time to get used to the new rules?
– There will be no extra effort in the public transport field now. I think we should let the traffic picture adjust a little initially, but we will also carry out public transport lane checks in the future, says Berger.
– It has turned out that there has been a need for it.
Tags: Collective lanes Electric cars Doll passenger seat forgotten wives stories forget electric cars public transport sector
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