Diesel Woes into 2019

We are now into 2019 in Germany, and this is the diesel-year, where massive chaos starts and a national policy simply doesn't exist.

Here in January, in the Stuttgart region, if you are an out-of-town guy who own a older model diesel car (Euro version 4 or worse), then you are forbidden to enter Stuttgart without paying a fine. Starting in April....all local folks with the city plates, will be forbidden from Stuttgart with the older model diesel.

N-TV, the commercial network, talks about this entire problem brewing.

The method to detect the violators?  Well....the suggestion is that parking lot surveillance or traffic control sensors will alert the city officials who will fine you.  The fine?  80 Euro (plus fees figured later).  My guess is that you could be paying 90 to 100 Euro (city parking lots might have folks roaming around and they'd charge you a fee as a roamer).

Hostility brewing?  Yes.  There is NO national policy, and even if you go state-by-state, nothing is really clear.  So each city is running it's own program and you could find x-city with this program, and y-city with another program.

Other regions and cities to follow?  That's the thing about this.  Stuttgart is only at the front of this mess. 

Berlin trying to resolve this?  That's the humorous part of the story.  Other than a few comments here and there, the Chancellor has done virtually nothing.  The President of Germany?  Nothing.  You might see a comment or two from the Transport Ministry, but they are simply working on some 'kit' which would resolve the particle problem, but no one can say with authority if this is enough.

The odds of mass lawsuits?  It's barely ever discussed.  First, who would you sue?  The city?  Apparently, the EU law says that they can control their pollution business.  Suing Berlin?  For what?  Suing the car companies?  For what?

My guess is that the number of folks showing up for mass transit in Stuttgart will quickly double in nature and create massive problems over the next four months.  People will begin to blame the city for their delays and overfilled trains/trams.  By mid-summer, I would suggest that direct blame will be shifted to Berlin because they failed to do anything to resolve this mess.