Polluting commercial vehicles will soon be banned from downtown: what does this mean for your bus?

It’s quite a puzzle with these environmental zones in Dutch cities. And only more rules will be added. Starting in 2025, you need to pay close attention to your company car. Dutch Vans, the place to find your used bus, explains what the rules will mean for you.

Each commercial vehicle falls into an emissions class (from 0 to 6). The cleaner the car, the higher the class. If you drive an old diesel company car, you may already be prohibited from entering the centers of Amsterdam, Arnhem, Utrecht and The Hague. Furthermore, you are still welcome everywhere with your bus at this time. Starting in 2025, that will change. Because it’s quite a puzzle with those rules, we offer an overview here.

What is the situation now?

If your bus runs on gasoline or LPG (or is electric) you may enter any environmental zone. Since 2020, however, there have been restrictions on diesel-powered buses. There have been two environmental zones since then. A yellow zone is open to cars and buses with an emission class of 3 or higher. To enter a green zone, your bus must be emission class 4 or higher. So these rules only apply to diesel cars. Currently, 4 cities have green environmental zones: Amsterdam, Arnhem, The Hague and Utrecht.

Zero-emission zones from 2025

Starting January 1, 2025, a good number of municipalities are going to designate a zero-emission zone (ZE zone). Only buses and trucks that do not emit anything, i.e. are electric or run on hydrogen, will be allowed in there. The perimeter of a ZE zone is at least the city center plus surrounding neighborhoods. So, if you regularly drive your company vehicle into a city (or cities) that will have a zero-emission zone in 2025, that may soon pose problems.

If your commercial vehicle has emission class 4 or lower, you are immediately barred from entering 30 to 40 major cities. For commercial vehicles of emission class 5 and 6, the government has established a transitional arrangement. vans with emission class 5 will not be allowed to enter the environmental zone from 2027. For vans with emission class 6, this applies from 2028.

Buying a new (used) commercial vehicle

So it is wise to pay close attention to the emissions class when buying a new (used) bus if you need to be in city centers and surrounding neighborhoods a lot. In a little over four years, you won’t be allowed to go there with a gasoline, diesel or LPG bus.

For more information and no-obligation advice, you can always contact Dutch Vans. Our expert advisors will be happy to assist you. At Dutch Vans, you can always choose from more than 300 used cars, including the popular Iveco Daily. With our own inventory, we always have the perfect bus for you and can deliver it in no time. You will find us centrally located in the Netherlands in Barneveld, right next to the A1 motorway.