what is the outcome of Anne Hidalgo’s anti-car strategy?

what is the outcome of Anne Hidalgo’s anti-car strategy?
what is the outcome of Anne Hidalgo’s anti-car strategy?

► What measures are being taken to reduce the importance of the car in ?

Announced for Tuesday October 1, the reduction from 70 km/h to 50 km/h of the maximum speed on the Paris ring road will be gradually introduced by October 10 (read opposite). This much-discussed limitation is only one of the countless measures taken in Paris to reduce automobile traffic.

Since the start of the first mandate of the socialist Anne Hidalgo, in 2014, the municipality has pedestrianized the roads on the banks, limited the speed to 30 km/h in almost all of the streets, reduced the number of parking spaces or even tripled, on the basis of a “citizen consultation”, the visitor rate for SUVs.

► Should we expect other anti-car provisions?

While waiting for the hypothetical development on the ring road of a lane reserved for buses, taxis and carpoolers (the State, decision-maker, is not in favor of this), the next measure concerns the creation of a limited traffic zone (ZTL ) in the city center: the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th arrondissements, with the exception of the islands and high banks.

Only motorists living in the area or needing to go there for a specific purpose, personal or professional, will be able to enter this perimeter. This system is also supposed to come into force on October 1. But according to David Belliard, deputy mayor of Paris responsible for the transformation of public space and transport, the application should only be done “during the month”when the police chief has co-signed the municipal decree creating this system.

How will you prove your right to enter a motorized vehicle within this area? Will you have to use an app on your phone? Print a certificate, Covid period style? The elected official refuses for the moment to specify the modalities of application and control.

A vagueness which quite annoys Éric Hemar, president of the Union of Transport and Logistics Companies of . Even if the municipal police should only be able to control a small proportion of drivers, there is no question that the members of its organization are taking the slightest risk. “A driver who has an accident in this area without justification would no longer be covered by his insurer,” he emphasizes.

According to David Belliard, the ZTL should lead to “a 10% drop in road traffic” in the area, traffic which, he is betting, will only partly transfer to neighboring districts.

► Do the measures already applied influence road traffic in Paris?

Consisting of making car use ever more unpleasant and costly, the municipality’s strategy has undoubtedly contributed to the decline of the car in the capital. “Every year, road traffic declines by 3 to 5%”rejoices David Belliard. A trend confirmed by Antoine Trouche, spokesperson for Airparif, an association approved by the Ministry of the Environment to monitor air quality in Île-de-France: “Between 2010 and 2021, the number of kilometers traveled by motor vehicle in Paris fell by 18%. The decline is even greater (– 27%) if we focus on individual cars. »

As INSEE puts it, the car is, in the capital, “a property in decline”. In 2023, a third of Parisian households had one, compared to 46% in 1990; 64% in the inner suburbs, down slightly; and 83% in the greater suburbs, stable. This is a sign that deterrence is working. But also the result of a policy more favorable to pedestrians, insists David Belliard: “Since 2020, we have returned 30 hectares to them (out of 10,540, Editor’s note) by closing certain streets in front of schools or by greening side alleys. »

There is also the place given to cycling, with the proliferation of cycle paths, which have often taken the place of a lane for cars. Between 2021 and 2026, 180 kilometers of secure slopes must complete a network of more than 1,000 km.

Result: according to a study published in April by the Paris Region Institute, the regional agency for town planning and the environment, 11% of trips on working days are now made by bicycle compared to 9% by personal vehicle. . Public transport accounts for 34% of trips, far behind walking (44%).

These changes, like the lowering of maximum speeds, have an impact on accidents. Year after year, security improves. But the progression of bicycles and scooters has made it appear in public spaces “conflicts of use”recognizes David Belliard. Between 2019 and 2023, the number of deaths fell by only 3%. And pedestrians, cyclists and scooter users are over-represented among the victims (injured or killed).

► Has the town hall’s strategy reduced pollution?

It is difficult to attribute a reduction in pollution to the action of the town hall alone, let alone measure the effectiveness of this or that measure taken individually. Because other measures, such as the establishment of low emission zones (ZFE) in the metropolis (vehicles classified Crit’air 3 should be banned there from January 2025), and European regulations obliging manufacturers to produce vehicles fewer emissions and encouraging motorists to convert to electric play a major role.

Another downside, pointed out by Jean-Baptiste Renard, researcher at the CNRS: it is difficult to compare the evolution of pollution levels from one year to the next because they depend a lot on the weather. “For a year and a half, we have hardly experienced a long anticyclonic episode, synonymous with a pollution peak,” he emphasizes.

However, according to Airparif, emissions linked to road traffic, the leading emitter of nitrogen oxides, fell by 63% between 2013 and 2023, and those of fine particles by 72%. As a result, air quality, which also depends on heating, industry and construction sites, has clearly improved. From 2013 to 2023, in Paris, the concentration of fine particles fell by 45%, like that of nitrogen dioxides – resulting from the transformation of nitrogen oxide. A more marked drop in the capital than in Île-de-France as a whole (– 40%).

“In 2010, the annual number of premature deaths linked to fine particles was estimated at 2,600, recalls Antoine Trouche. In 2019, we increased to 1,500. This remains unsatisfactory but we have reduced the loss of life expectancy from twenty to ten months. »

► Is the gap widening between Paris and its suburbs?

It is often said that the ring road serves as a border, in people’s minds at least, between “Parisians” and “suburbs”. And voices are being raised to deplore an anti-car strategy which would further penalize suburban residents.

Regional president Valérie Pécresse sees the lowering of the maximum speed on the ring road to 50 km/h as a measure “antisocial” penalizing night and early morning workers forced to use the car to go from one suburb to another, at rare times when this road ring is fluid (over 24 hours, the average speed barely reaches 37 km/h).

In the opinion of Alexandra Legendre, spokesperson for the Drivers’ Defense League, “Paris cannot decide alone to change the rules on a route used mainly by suburban residents” (43% of users come from the inner suburbs, 23% from the outer suburbs).

“Suburban residents have the feeling of no longer being welcome in the capital, says Aurélien Véron, member of the right and center opposition on the Paris municipal council. For example, it was enough to change the direction of traffic on a section of rue Saint-Honoré, near the Louvre. (in order to prevent motorists from using this street en masse, Editor’s note), so that many rather well-off residents of the western suburbs stop going to the gallery owners, antique dealers and restaurateurs in the neighborhood. »

“Because they return at times when there are fewer RER trains, because their place of residence is poorly served, many prefer not to come to Paris anymore than to take public transport”Aurélien Véron believes.

The anti-car strategy adopted by Paris must in any case be accompanied by a strengthening of the mobility offer, in the capital and especially from its suburbs, near and far. The extension of the automatic metro line 14, which now links Saint-Denis to , the extension of the RER E towards the west of Île-de-France or the upcoming creation of a single rate for occasional travelers in Île-de-France is all good news.

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The entire Paris ring road limited to 50 km/h on October 10

The reduction from 70 to 50 km/h of the maximum speed on the ring road will take place gradually, section by section, from Tuesday 1is October, time to change the signs and educate users.

This measure will apply to the 35 km of the road ring from October 10.

“We are not going to fine motorists from 1is October, there will be a transition period,” the first deputy mayor of Paris, Patrick Bloche, assured AFP, even though speed control and the punishment of offenders are not the responsibility of the city but of the police headquarters.

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