Toulouse Métropole wants to reduce the pollution generated by road traffic with areas prohibited for certain vehicles and the ambition to become “breathable city in 5 years”.
Users of the road, remember this acronym: ZFE. Toulouse Métropole wants to establish a low-emission zone to reduce atmospheric pollution.
Diesel vehicles particularly targeted
Toulouse is indeed one of 15 communities in France particularly affected by foul air problems. In this new perimeter, some vehicles will be banned from driving.
Old diesel vehicles are particularly targeted by measurement, because they are “those who reject fine particles and NO2 (nitrogen dioxide), responsible for chronic respiratory diseases,” says François Chollet, vice president of Toulouse Métropole.
The ring road concerned?
Will the device be included or excluded from this area? A final decision will be taken by May 2020.
Based on the system of vignettes Crit Air put into service in November 2017, the future ZFE will fined (from 68 to 135 euros)drivers who will circulate in the chosen perimeter and in a vehicle too polluting.
“Upstream work” launched
The measure can scare some people. Currently, the fleet of vehicles concerned by the future EPZ is not really known. The certainty is that it is the drivers who can not afford to buy a less polluting vehicle that will be the first to be impacted by the measure.
A risk where the mayor of Toulouse , Jean-Luc Moudenc, spoke on 1st April 2019:
“The risk is that it is people with modest incomes, those who have the least means to change their polluting vehicle who are the most penalized. That’s why we started the work well upstream, this to consider an effective and acceptable for the inhabitants.”
A first phase of consultation in progress
A few months before the introduction of the device, Toulouse Métropole is already working to prepare the ground. Since March 2019, François Chollet has been meeting with associations and professionals, among others, as part of a “voluntary consultation” phase.
François Chollet explains:
“We have undertaken this voluntary consultation outside of any compulsory constraint with the people who will be primarily concerned. The meetings we are organizing are intended to explain what the EPZ is, the critical issues it represents for the health of the inhabitants and to adapt to the future consequences. It should not be forgotten that the EPZ is a restrictive measure, but there is a need to do it on the health front. The idea is to propose a feasible, reasonable device while being effective.”
This first phase of voluntary consultation, begun in March, will continue until June 30.
A study in June 2019, choice of the ZFU in 2020
In parallel, the technical study that began several months ago will make its conclusions in June. “This is the study that will give us the perimeter of the future ZFE,” says François Chollet.
The calendar is then already well established. A second phase of consultation will take place in late 2019 “to work on the acceptability of the project”. The final decision on the scope and modalities of application will take place in May 2020 before being implemented by the end of 2020.
The device included in the exclusion scope?
A year and a half into the EPZ, a number of fundamental questions remain unresolved. The first being: will the ring road, the most polluting road axis, be included in the perimeter?
“For now, it is necessary to model what this or that perimeter would generate as an improvement of the quality of the air”, had just indicated François Chollet on April 1st . As part of the ongoing “modeling” studies that will be carried out in the autumn, it will be necessary for the authorities to determine the territories to be treated as a priority, ie those where the inhabitants are currently heavily impacted by the pollution of the area. air.
The Lyon example
In Lyon , almost all the boroughs, but also the areas of Villeurbanne, Bron and Vénissieux located inside the ring road and the entire municipality of Caluire-et-Cuire will be concerned by the new legislation.
“However, the roads on the perimeter of this perimeter (Laurent Bonnevay ring road, A6 / A7, mounted soldiers) will be excluded from the ZFE, to allow non-compliant vehicles to bypass the exclusion zone, including Lyon , Villeurbanne and a part of Caluire, Bron and Vénissieux “, indicates the metropolis.
The Lyon method transposed to the territory of Toulouse could lead to the establishment of the EPZ beyond the ring road , in municipalities of the agglomeration highly impacted by air pollution (Labège, Ramonville, Blagnac …) while excluding the Toulouse ring road. To be continued…
What days will it be applied?
The second question that arises is the days during which the EPZ will be applied to us?
In Toulouse, François Chollet had mentioned Monday 1 st April 2019, traffic restrictions only 5 days out of 7. According to this information, the weekend would not be affected by the future system in Toulouse.
How are the controls going to be assured?
It will not be an easy task … To compel motorists to respect the rules , the state wants to install cameras at the entrance to these areas, as part of its “clean” mobility plan. These cameras will be able to read the license plate to check that a vehicle has the right to drive. For Toulouse Métropole, it will be up to the State to finance the installation of these cameras.
