This is a new episode in the fight that Paris is waging against the car and its nuisances. After the pedestrianization of the riverbank lanes, the introduction of dissuasive parking rates for large SUV-type vehicles or the recent lowering of the maximum speed on the ring road (from 70 to 50 km/h), the municipality is implementing this Monday November 4 a limited traffic zone (ZTL) in the first four districts of the capital.
With an area of 5.5 km2, the territory concerned extends from Concorde to the Bastille and goes up to the grand boulevards. However, the high quays, as well as the Île de la Cité and the Île Saint-Louis, are excluded. Likewise, the edges of the Seine, left bank, are not part of the newly created zone, contrary to the initial project of Mayor Anne Hidalgo.
The right bank not directly concerned
The principle of the ZTL, which was the subject of a public consultation, consists of excluding all transit traffic: it is impossible to pass through the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th arrondissements if you want, for example, to go from the Gare du Nord in Saint-Michel. Only motorists with a good reason for going to or leaving the area (going to the doctor, for example, but also to a restaurant or the cinema) will be able to travel there.
“This device, ensures the town hall, will reorganize the sharing of public space for the benefit of public transport, cycling and walking, as well as certain categories of users (visitors, residents, traders, artisans, taxis, public services, people with reduced mobility …). It will also lead to a reduction in air and noise pollution. »
What supporting documents? And what controls?
However, its contours remain very vague. Published Thursday October 31, a first decree co-signed by the town hall and the prefecture of Paris certainly provides for the entry into force of the limited traffic zone from Monday November 4, but refers to a future decree so that it can be defined “the list of supporting documents allowing the right to travel within the country to be established”, as well as the control methods.
An opposition elected official assures that the national police will not be responsible for this verification. According to him, control would fall exclusively to the municipal police, whose agents, already busy with other missions (fight against incivility and noise pollution, control of annoying parking, protection of municipal buildings and green spaces, etc.), do not would not be in sufficient numbers to exercise it effectively.
€135 fine
Violators are in any case liable to receive a fine of €135. But the verbalization will only occur after a period of six months, the time to carry out the “pedagogy” to users.
Town halls in neighboring districts, particularly those in the 5th, 6th and 7th arrondissements, on the right bank, fear suffering from a pure and simple postponement of traffic. Deputy mayor of Paris in charge of the transformation of public space and transport, David Belliard anticipates, “a 10% drop in road traffic” in the ZTL, and a postponement which would only be partial in the adjacent districts.
Likewise, faced with numerous criticisms from the opposition and from traders who fear that the area will be empty of visitors, the town hall argues that rue de Rivoli has seen its attendance increase since its access is reserved for bicycles, buses , taxis and other priority vehicles.
Already ZTLs in Nantes, Rennes and Grenoble
Other cities have already implemented limited traffic zones. This is the case for Nantes, Rennes and Grenoble. In the latter, only residents or professionals whose home or commercial activity is located in the ZTL can enter the perimeter by car, provided they affix a sticker to their windshield.
Examples also exist abroad, notably in Italy, where the signs at the entrance to certain areas are accompanied by cameras checking the license plate and allowing fines to be issued directly if the car is not authorized to enter the perimeter.
