A tool for improving the quality of life for some, a vector of exclusion and a machine for producing “yellow vests” for others, the ZFE (Low Emission Zones) system will see a boost on January 1st. . While they currently only concern twelve large French metropolises (including Paris, Lyon, Aix-Marseille-Provence, Nice and Toulouse), these zones, intended to limit the circulation of the most polluting vehicles, will be deployed in around thirty additional agglomerations in 2025.
Resulting from the Climate and Resilience law, the ZFEs will in fact concern all urban areas with more than 150,000 inhabitants – such as Lille, Bordeaux, Nantes, Rennes. The vehicles which will no longer be able to circulate there are “unclassified” with Crit'Air stickers, i.e. cars registered before 1997 and light utility vehicles registered before September 30, 1997. These towns are, however, free to take more restrictive measures. Among those having already imposed them, Paris, Lyon and Strasbourg will be the only ones to limit, on paper, the circulation of Crit'Air 3 vehicles, i.e. diesel cars registered before 2011 and gasoline cars registered before 2006.
A list of exemptions as long as an arm
In fact, this rise in power of EPZs will be accompanied by a whole host of adjustments and exemptions which will limit its supposed effects, at least initially. Let's take the example of Bordeaux, where the ZFE will be applied on January 1 in the so-called “intra-ring” sector, only for “unclassified” vehicles, i.e. 160,000 vehicles across the department (3% of households) and 11,000 vehicles. on a metropolitan scale (2.1% of the metropolitan vehicle fleet). Bordeaux Métropole will grant them a “ZFE pass” which will still allow them to enter the zone 24 days a year, for a period of 24 hours. Not to mention the list of exemptions as long as an arm, which will concern people “suffering from a long-term condition”, “assuming the role of caregiver”, or even technical vehicles, vintage vehicles, etc.
And the Bordeaux metropolis is far from being an exception. In Rennes, the ZFE will also only concern so-called “unclassified” vehicles, which will also have the possibility of using a “ZFE pass” valid 52 times a year for a period of 24 hours. In Lille, the exemption will concern “small riders” and holders of a transport network subscription card.
The memory of the “yellow vests”
“A certain number of cities are reluctant to establish overly restrictive ZFEs, because they know that it is the poorest populations who will pay the price, since they are the ones who a priori own the oldest cars, therefore the more polluting, and also those who do not have the means to buy a new car” summarizes Guillaume Pouyanne, lecturer in urban economics at the University of Bordeaux, deputy director of the Development, Cities and Inequalities research program. “Even if cities are at the same time putting in place aid for the purchase of less polluting vehicles,” he adds.
Our file on automobile traffic
Many elected officials also remain marked by the memory of the “yellow vests”. “It's still fresh, and we're not very far from that with the EPZs… We can also add the anxiety of a less busy city center, with consequences on trade and the local economy. generally speaking, continues the economist. All this explains why we end up with watered down versions of ZFE. »
Radars should arrive in early 2026
Even the most advanced metropolises walk on eggshells. In Strasbourg, where the Eurometropolis “has deployed one of the most ambitious ZFEs in France”, she assures, “unclassified” vehicles, as well as Crit'Air 4 and 5, can no longer circulate ( unless special permission). But the community finally decided to grant a two-year reprieve to Crit'Air 3 vehicles, until December 31, 2026, “in view of the economic and social situation of many households, the state of the vehicle fleet still in circulation, as well as the absence of automated means of control promised by the State. If offenders risk a third-class fine (68 euros flat rate), checks are still very rare. Radars should arrive in early 2026 to automate them, according to the government.
In Paris, the same Crit'Air 3 vehicles will be on paper prohibited from circulating from January 1, but will in reality be exempt from inspection for a year, announced the metropolis, regretting “the disengagement of the State” from this device. They will also benefit from a “24-hour pass” for twenty-four days to travel freely in the ZFE, in addition to weekends, for a total of 139 days. In Lyon, the exclusion of Crit'Air 3 will concern 46,800 vehicles, or 11% of the private vehicle fleet. But their owners will also be able to benefit from a “small rider” exemption, giving the right to 52 days of circulation per year in the ZFE.
“Luxury today is being able to do without a car”
The fear of a “yellowization” of society, and the pressure from automobile lobbies, who denounce the “injustice” of these ZFEs, which would make “drivers who do not have the financial means to change vehicles second-class citizens zone”, would they therefore make the metropolises tremble? “We are also affecting well-established habits, and the philosophy for this type of measure is to start slowly, to gradually tighten the rules,” says doctoral student Elena Held, who is preparing a thesis on ZFEs. It’s never all at once.”
“We must also understand the territorial elected officials, on whom this ZFE is imposed from above, and who see clearly that this risks causing them social problems,” adds Guillaume Pouyanne. An institution like the metropolis has more confidence in its own mobility policy, rather than in this tool which is certainly interesting, but which has disadvantages.”
The economist specializing in issues of territorial development and urban sprawl, also assures that “we have been implementing anti-car policies in cities for 25 years, notably with the development of tramways, pedestrianization city centers, because we feel that we will have to change the model, the way of creating the city.”
“If we caricature,” he continues, “fifty years ago, luxury was having a car, today it is being able to do without one.” Even if there is an underlying “fear of creating a dual city”, with on one side a “peaceful” city center equipped with “gentle” modes of travel, and on the other a periphery “designed from the car”, with its shopping centers and residential areas.
