A little over two weeks ago, David Belliard, the EELV transport assistant to Anne Hidalgo (PS), decided to unveil the perimeter of the future peaceful zone in the historic heart of the capital.
The reactions were quick among Parisians as in the municipal opposition and in particular among the Republicans.
However, the elected representative only set in motion a campaign promise from the mayor.
We have therefore decided to question you, to give you the opportunity to ask your questions to the City to better understand how this measure, which should be in place in 2022, after a consultation which is due to end this fall.
Through our website, we have received a large number of questions.
Many overlapped or went, in the end, in the same direction.
We have selected twelve to which David Belliard was kind enough to provide his answer.
What devices (signs, police, etc.) do you plan to enforce the ban on driving in this area?
DAVID BELLIARD.
First of all, it is important to remember that only transit vehicles will no longer be allowed to circulate in the peaceful Paris Center - Saint-Germain area.
Residents, professionals, people with reduced mobility, craftsmen, taxis, etc. will be allowed to circulate in the peaceful area.
This limited traffic zone will be materialized by a new traffic plan which will limit the possible entry points.
Signs and markings on the ground will be installed and city officials, assisted by video over-marking cameras, will enforce this new measure.
Will the inhabitants of central Paris have a distinctive sign on their car?
The beneficiaries will be able to circulate without hindrance.
The list of people concerned is open for debate in the consultation.
It is currently underway and the workshops for residents and professionals also aim to refine the way in which we will enforce access.
Everything is still open.
I therefore strongly invite Parisians to come and participate in order to give their opinions and ideas on the concertation website.
What do you plan to avoid traffic delays in the districts on the edge of the Paris center - Saint-Germain area which, like the great boulevards, risk being suffocated by traffic jams from morning to night?
The center of Paris is the historic heart of the city and the streets are particularly narrow. They are therefore not made for heavy traffic as we are currently experiencing. This therefore leads to traffic jams and conflicts of use which can be dangerous. If the situation is problematic today, we are obviously vigilant not to provide a solution that would deport the problem. This is why the creation of the peaceful zone of Paris Center - Saint-Germain goes hand in hand with an overhaul of the circulation plan for the Parisian territory, and in particular of the local circulation plans near the zone. For consultation around this future peaceful area, we have chosen an online platform but also thematic workshops, organized at a distance because of the Covid-19 epidemic.A cycle of workshops deals precisely with the concerns and requests of residents of the boroughs bordering the peaceful zone. By 2024, the Paris ring road will also undergo a major transformation which should reduce traffic flows inside the capital and therefore unclog Paris.
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Will there be more buses, metro and Vélib 'available in this area?
If so, in what proportion?
Thanks to the implementation of the limited traffic zone, traffic flow will be greatly improved in the center of Paris, in particular for the buses, which are very numerous there. For daily bus users, improving regularity will be a small revolution, as is already the case on rue de Rivoli (Ist-IVth). Finally, the area is already very well endowed with the metro, and we are working with Smovengo on improving the Vélib 'service in the center of Paris, as everywhere else in the metropolis. Consultation is also the place where - I hope - Parisians will tell us what means of transport, own or collective, they need to strengthen the alternative to the private car. We are thinking in particular about increasing the Mobilib 'device,that is to say carsharing for individuals and professionals set up by the city.
We, craftsmen, will we still be able to move around and park with our trucks (transport of materials, rubble, etc.) in central Paris to access our sites?
The objective of the peaceful zone is not to turn the center of Paris into a museum, on the contrary! Projects will continue to stick to it, but better coordinated thanks to the policy put in place by my colleague Jacques Baudrier. So obviously, traffic will remain possible for construction machinery located in the center of Paris. What we are putting in place is the ban on through traffic and not a total ban on traffic. This possibility of coming to the area for construction machinery also applies to all the other professionals who come to work in the center of Paris, and who constitute an important part of its identity and its vitality. Otherwise,Paris is part of the metropolitan low-emission zone (ZFE) which is committed to phasing out diesel in 2024 and gasoline in 2030. We are also working on this essential point to fight against air pollution with professionals, in order to provide them with the best possible support.
Will people who work in central Paris have the right to drive to work?
If not, how will those who work late at night (in restaurants, for example) manage to get home at times when there is no longer the metro?
Once again I call back
that we are going to ban transit traffic, therefore vehicles that pass through the center of Paris without stopping there.
People who work in this area are therefore not affected.
The consultation which is underway to refine its rules.
In addition, people working in the area coming by car are a very small minority, apart from delivery professionals.
The public transport network in central Paris is the densest in the world!
Will I be able to drive an elderly or disabled person to a medical appointment in central Paris, even if we do not live there?
Yes, because it is not about transit traffic.
And the restrictions will not affect people with disabilities, for whom it is necessary to deploy all possible traffic facilities.
Will I still be able to drive my disabled daughter to central Paris when I don't live there?
Will all metro stations in this area be handicapped accessible?
Traffic restrictions will not affect people with reduced mobility or their companions, of course.
As for making the metro accessible, we strongly support it, and I regret that we are not going faster!
This is the responsibility of the Île-de-France region and of its president, Valérie Pécresse.
We are currently working to make the bus stops 100% accessible.
An investment plan of 10 million euros will make it possible to bring the work up to standard by 2023.
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I am 82 years old, will I still have the right to drive to central Paris to attend a show?
Attending a show, seeing a doctor, visiting friends who live in the center of Paris… All this will of course be authorized, since it is not a question of transit trips.
Of course, the city encourages, whenever possible for all who can, alternatives to polluting and private cars - what is called autosolism.
The VTCs which currently are not allowed to use the rue de Rivoli, will they be allowed to circulate in the center of Paris like taxis?
If not, why this difference in treatment?
The rue de Rivoli does not allow access to VTC because today it consists of a wide two-way cycle path and a bus lane.
The law allows taxis to circulate in the bus lanes, it is for this reason that they have the right to borrow Rivoli unlike the VTC.
For the peaceful Paris center - Saint-Germain zone, the list of beneficiaries is open to consultation.
This point is therefore not yet decided.
I will also meet the representatives of the VTC in the coming weeks.
Traffic on rue de Rivoli is limited to certain categories of users.
LP / OB
Will electric cars and scooters be allowed to circulate in central Paris?
The peaceful zone aims to prohibit transit traffic whatever the vehicle, with the exception of pedestrians, cyclists and public transport.
We are setting up this limited traffic zone for pollution control issues, but not only.
It is also for questions of road safety in a historic center which is not made for such heavy traffic.
So, although we are working on converting thermal vehicles to electric vehicles, electric cars and scooters that only cross the future peaceful zone will no longer be welcome.
How and since when does the pedestrianization of the center of Rome, Milan, Madrid or Grenoble, cities often cited as examples?
What feedback do you have?
Indeed, Paris is not alone in choosing to calm its city center. It is a dynamic experienced by many cities around the world to gain space, safety, city quality and health because pollution is a scourge unfortunately shared by many large cities. London or Milan have decided on an urban toll. For Paris, we did not want to make this choice, even if it greatly facilitates control, because we do not want to make the heart of our city a place reserved only for those who can afford it. In Italy, restricted traffic areas are very common. Many large cities have implemented them since 1970. Rome prohibits access to its city center to everyone except residents and commercial vehicles, under certain conditions.It is the municipal police officers who are responsible for ensuring compliance with the traffic ban, aided by video over-tagging cameras. In Madrid, the city has been divided into eleven “supermanzanas” within which traffic is prohibited apart from soft mobility, residents and deliveries. In France, cities such as Nantes in 2012 and Grenoble in 2016 have also chosen to appease their city centers with limited traffic areas. We are inspired by it for the future peaceful area of Paris, both as regards the beneficiaries and the methods of control. In none of these cities where peaceful zones have been set up is there any plan to go back.the city was divided into eleven “supermanzanas” inside which traffic is prohibited apart from soft mobility, residents and deliveries. In France, cities such as Nantes in 2012 and Grenoble in 2016 have also chosen to appease their city centers with limited traffic areas. We are inspired by it for the future peaceful area of Paris, both as regards the beneficiaries and the methods of control. In none of these cities where peaceful zones have been set up is there any plan to go back.the city was divided into eleven “supermanzanas” inside which traffic is prohibited apart from soft mobility, residents and deliveries. In France, cities such as Nantes in 2012 and Grenoble in 2016 have also chosen to appease their city centers with limited traffic areas. We are inspired by it for the future peaceful area of Paris, both as regards the beneficiaries and the methods of control. In none of these cities where peaceful zones have been set up is there any plan to go back.cities like Nantes in 2012 and Grenoble in 2016 have also chosen to appease their city centers with limited traffic areas. We are inspired by it for the future peaceful area of Paris, both as regards the beneficiaries and the methods of control. In none of these cities where peaceful zones have been set up is there any plan to go back.cities like Nantes in 2012 and Grenoble in 2016 have also chosen to appease their city centers with limited traffic areas. We are inspired by it for the future peaceful area of Paris, both as regards the beneficiaries and the methods of control. In none of these cities where peaceful zones have been set up is there any plan to go back.