The electric drivers escaped: – They were lucky

Were you one of those who took the car today? And maybe you ventured into the public transport zone because your anger got the better of you?

Then you risked a fine of NOK 8,200.

– They were lucky.

That’s according to Tomm Berger, head of the traffic and maritime services. He meets VG at the E18 a few hours after the electric cars were thrown completely out of the public transport lane on the main roads towards Oslo.

And lucky they were. In the first few days, you can escape the fine. On Monday, the police carried out no checks, says Berger.

– Isn’t that a lot of money?

– Yes, it’s a lot of money, police Berger agrees.

The reason why the public transport area can no longer be used is to create access for the buses when the Ring 1 tunnels are closed and are to be repaired – for a full three years. But when VG visits E18, it may seem that several people have not caught on to the change.

– Either they didn’t get it, or they took the chance to drive in the public transport lane, says Berger.

– We already know that many have chosen to drive there without having had the opportunity to do so. We will probably still experience people doing that, he adds.

– Will be a queue chaos

– At seven o’clock today, it took one hour and 25 minutes by car to travel the 4.5 miles from Drammen to the Storting.

That’s what Høyre’s Trond Helleland says, who reacts strongly to the fact that no extra buses have been installed in Oslo and Akershus.

According to Helleland, he normally spends 45–50 minutes on the same stretch. Helleland is also deputy chairman of the Storting’s Transport and Communications Committee

But, one thing must be said – the right-wing politician has an electric car and has been driving in the public transport lane until now.

He’s probably not the only one who got impatient in traffic today:

– There has probably been a little more traffic than a normal Monday. Slightly longer queues, but it has gone surprisingly well, and it seems that many have changed their habits a bit. Maybe taken public transport or found other solutions than using the car today, says Berger in the police.

The Traffic Center also felt that the morning traffic was fine, but reported more congestion than usual:

– There has been a little more queue from the west than you normally see. But in the morning rush on Monday there is always a lot of traffic, said Gry Solli, traffic operator at Veitrafikksentralen to VG after the first hours of the electric car rollout.

Here, the electric drivers drive happily in the “express lane” on Monday:

Back to Høyre-Helleland. He thinks nothing of the change, and points out that 100,000 people commute in and out of Oslo every day. In addition, the goods transport must also proceed.

– Then you can’t just close the public transport field until 2027 – it will be unprecedented queuing chaos.

He is surprised that it is forbidden to drive all types of electric cars in the public transport zone.

– This applies equally to those who use electric cars for goods transport, he says.

Asking people to use the train is not a good solution either, believes Helleland and points out that there have been a lot of delays in train traffic in Eastern Norway recently.

– The trains have not exactly been the customers’ best friend so far in 2024 due to a number of problems, especially signal errors. In addition, there has long been half capacity on the Vestfold line, says Helleland, who commutes from Drammen to Oslo on a daily basis.

– Critical situation

Sirin Stav, group leader MDG in Oslo, on the other hand, believes that it is absolutely right to throw the electric cars out of the public transport field, and ensure accessibility for public transport travellers.

– We are in a critical situation with queues, traffic jams and chaos in Oslo when Ring 1 is closed and car traffic must be reduced by at least 30 per cent.

MDG will have cheaper public transport fares and a separate field for electric car sharing.

In addition, the City Council must “accelerate the price cut to 499 they have promised on monthly tickets, and reverse the price increases they recently introduced on single tickets”, she believes.

– In addition, one of the three lanes from Lysaker towards Oslo must be converted into a lane for electric vans and carpooling for electric cars, while the public transport lane is reserved for buses, says Stav in an email to VG.

But what do the people think? That’s what VG asked its readers on Monday. This was the result after nearly 24,000 votes had been cast:

As many as 55 per cent believe that a ban is a good thing. 22 per cent think it is hopeless and 23 per cent think we need better public transport for this to work.

Halvard Gavelstad​, traffic project manager at the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, says that they have carried out a survey which shows that one in four are positive about changing their travel habits when ring 1 is closed on 1 July.

Considers several measures

He says that they will follow developments closely going forward and continuously assess supplementary measures if necessary:

– This means further restriction of traffic towards the Opera Tunnel by expanding the public transport lanes and possibly establishing heavy traffic lanes.

Agree or disagree – all motorists must live with this rule for three years.

– I think it will work out. A few weeks ago we closed a field on Ring 3. There was a bit of chaos at the start, but then it worked out because you actually must change your habits to get where you need to go. It will happen here too. There will certainly be trouble at the start, and then it will work out, says Tomm Berger in the police’s traffic and maritime service.