“I hear a lot of concerns and a lot of them are unfounded,” assured, Thursday October 31, on franceinfo Ariel Weil, PS mayor of Paris Center, which brings together the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th arrondissements, while the decree establishing a limited traffic zone (ZTL) in the heart of Paris has was published Thursday, prohibiting traffic to vehicles that only cross the first four arrondissements of the capital. This measure will come into force on Monday.
“Residents, traders, craftsmen, all have the right to circulate in this limited traffic zone”, recalls Ariel Weil, as well as “people who come for what we call destination traffic to consume”. Regarding traders, the Parisian elected official specifies that“a very recent investigation”, carried out “with the Parisian Urban Planning Agency, showed that in large or small brands, today there are no more than 4% of people who come to do their shopping by car.” “They can continue to do it”says Ariel Weil.
The mayor of Paris Center specifies that “the objectives of this implementation of the limited traffic zone are to reduce traffic and, with it, pollution and noise.” He adds that there is also the objective that “those who must continue to circulate, circulate better – public transport, emergency vehicles and all those who will continue to circulate in the center of Paris”.
Regarding controls, there will be “a first educational phase”, explains Ariel Weil. “There will not be verbalizations right away, rather explanations.” The measure aims to “put an end to transit traffic” by dissuading “those who only take the center of Paris as a shortcut to get from one point to another more quickly”. The elected official assures that there is no desire for the town hall to “operate in a census-based manner, to say 'you are rich, you can pay, you enter'”in the image “of what exists in other cities, I am thinking of London”. He takes his example from “the Italian model” who is “to associate the right to be in the area with something to do there.” “In reality, the only ones who are excluded from this limited traffic are those who have nothing to do in the center of Paris.” The town hall estimates that there is “up to 30% of traffic” on certain axes “which is made up of vehicles that do not stop”.
Ariel Weill does not rule out an extension of the limited traffic zone throughout Paris. “All of Paris, I don't know. Why not. And maybe even Greater Paris.” The elected official recalls that the perimeter on which the ZTL is deployed today “is a little more restricted” what the city “had in mind”. The mayor of Paris Center recalls that the measure was recorded by the mayor of Paris and the Paris police prefect. “It is a consensual plan, perhaps at the cost of a reduction of the map previously envisaged.” Ariel Weil adds that “the investigating commissioner said that we will have to look at what is happening in the coming months to consider” to expand the area.
