Germany may start free public transport as pollution exceeds EU limits

The German government has made a proposal to introduce free public transportation as a radical measure to lower nitrogen oxide pollution in cities.

At least 20 major German cities continue to record nitrogen oxide pollution levels that exceed the EU limits and would be unable to correct the circumstance before 2020 according to a new report, Xinhua news agency said.

With the announcement on Tuesday, Berlin attempted to prevent any legal action against it by the European Commission for continually failing to comply with European Union (EU) urban air quality regulations.

Several courts in Germany were also independently mulling imposing a driving ban on diesel vehicles in the worst-affected cities.