Personalised vehicle registration soon?

In Germany and Belgium, this type of personalisation has existed for a long time. Authorised since 2014, the 8 characters at €1,000 generated €5 million for the Belgian authorities in the first six months. In 2021, 11,021 Belgian plates were personalised, bringing in 11 million euros for the State. In Luxembourg, the idea is not new. In 2015, a petition was submitted to the Chamber of Deputies to propose a legal framework for personalising number plates, without success. The new coalition will therefore make some people happy, and it will be interesting to see the appeal and results of this measure. It also remains to be seen how much the fee will cost.

Yuriko Backes, new Minister for Mobility and Public Works
In the CSV-DP coalition agreement, the new government states that “mobility will be one of its priorities” and “remains one of the country’s greatest challenges”. Yuriko Backes, the new Minister for Mobility and Public Works, will have to rise to this challenge. The CSV-DP coalition agreement, which will serve as the government’s guideline for the next 5 years, was unveiled to the press on Friday 17 November, the day after the bodies of the coalition parties signed it. Out of 209 pages, the mobility challenge is summarised on 6 pages.

Although the coalition agreement does not mention the target of 49% electric cars in the Luxembourg car fleet by 2030, the government will nonetheless be pursuing a policy of decarbonisation. “All citizens must have the opportunity to switch to zero-emission mobility”, the document stresses.

Subsidies for electrification will be maintained, as will subsidies for alternatives…
To this end, the agreement states, without going into detail, that subsidies for the purchase of electric cars will be maintained. The text also mentions the possibility of subsidising “other zero-emission technologies”. A little further on, the coalition points out that “Luxembourg remains open to technological developments and will support the most efficient technologies in their respective fields”. Should this be seen as a retreat from the all-electric strategy advocated by the European Union? It is still too early to say. The agreement also states that the installation of private charging points will continue to be encouraged and facilitated, particularly in condominiums.

In the rest of the coalition agreement, the government will be pursuing the major areas of development undertaken by the previous government in terms of mobility. Aware that by 2035, travel will have increased by 40%, making mobility a major challenge for the country’s economic attractiveness, it will create links between rural and urban areas while improving road traffic and guaranteeing the country’s harmonious development. Broadly speaking, the government will continue to develop the rail network in order to increase its capacity, as well as working to improve connections with neighbouring countries. Safety on platforms and on board trains will be reinforced.

Continuation of the work begun by the previous government
In terms of buses, the government will continue to analyse the RGTR network with the aim of completely revising public transport timetables and optimising rural services. The government will also analyse specific services such as Adapto and Mobibus.

It should be noted that the new government will continue the work begun by the DP-LSAP-Dei Greng coalition by developing high-service bus corridors on major routes, express bus lines and the possibility of developing bi-directional bus lanes. The possibility of widening to three lanes on the busiest motorways will be examined in order to dedicate one lane to public transport.

In terms of road safety, a third action plan aimed at combating road accidents will be put in place with a “Vision Zero” objective. The government will also continue to encourage local authorities to take concrete traffic calming measures in villages, with 30km/h or 20km/h zones and the introduction of shared spaces. More generally, the government will continue to implement the PNM2035.

The tramway will continue to expand, and the government is not stopping itself from examining the feasibility of creating new links. The development of public transport will be accompanied by improvements to the Mobilitéit.lu application.

Finally, the reform of the law on taxis will be completed with the aim of reducing the high fares charged, and a study will be carried out to replace the Eurovignette in goods transport with a model based on the user-pays principle.