Big snail operation on the Toulouse bypass on Saturday against the ZFE project, a low-emission zone
A big rally is planned this saturday november 6, on the Toulouse ring road, to protest against the ZFE, the low-emission zone which is due to come into force soon in the Toulouse metropolitan area. A collective made up of around twenty associations of motorists and bikers from all over the region calls for a parade, in snail operation, from 2 p.m., from Sesquières, via Ernest-Wallon, Ariadne’s thread, the Arc-en-ciel ring road and the Cité de l’Espace.
What is the ZFE again?
As a reminder, the Toulouse ZFE plans, to improve air quality, to gradually ban the most polluting vehicles in a perimeter that will include Toulouse and a small part of Colomiers and Tournefeuille, on a perimeter of 72 km2.
The ban on driving and parking will be 24/7 and will go through the Crit’air stickers, these little stickers to put on your windshield (which you can order for a little less than 4 euros here ).
Concretely can no longer circulate:
- By the end of 2021 : vans, heavy goods vehicles which are Crit’air 5 sticker and not classified (gasoline heavy goods vehicles before 2010, diesel heavy goods vehicles before 2006)
- In 2022: Crit’air 4 utility vehicles and heavy goods vehicles
- From 2023 : ban for Crit’air 4, 5 and unclassified cars and two-wheelers (two-wheelers before 2005, diesel cars before 2006, petrol cars before 97 and heavy goods vehicles before 2010)
- From 2024: motorcycles and cars prohibited until Crit’air 3
In case of non-compliance the fine will be 68 euros (135 for heavy goods vehicles). According to Toulouse Métropole estimates, 47,000 vehicles could therefore be banned from driving from January 1, 2024.
An EPZ “too restrictive”
The collective is not essential against EPZ but finds it too restrictive. According to them, it will increase the inequalities everyone can not change car, and aid – up to 5,000 euros granted by the Metropolis – are not sufficient. “We will no longer be able to go to the emergency room, to high school, to visit the city of space”, they say in a press release. Not to mention that the alternative means are not developed: “Late trains, lack of parking on the outskirts” …
Even Paris is not so harsh – Maurice Caubel, from the Federation of Angry Bikers in Haute-Garonne
“It is the most restrictive EPZ in France, even Paris is not as severe. At night, for example, you can drive in the capital”, details Maurice Caubel, representative of the French Federation of Angry Bikers (FFMC) in Haute-Garonne.
“We also endanger a lot of garage owners, for example, who work in the ZFE; not to mention those who work at night, with no alternative to the car”, explains Agnès Grillou, also from the FFMC.
The opponents’ proposals
Opponents of this ZFE police several proposals to improve the ZFE without it being penalizing:
- Exclude motorcycles and vintage cars from the ZFE
- Remove the A620 bypass from the area
- Grant exemptions on weekends to allow “leisure” use of polluting vehicles
- Grant exemptions to use them from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., when there is no public transport
- More help from the Metropolis to buy a clean vehicle
An EPZ delayed, but not abandoned
This EPZ was supposed to come into effect in the spring and then in September, but it is still not in effect, even though the panels are installed. So what is going on? It was apparently the Climate and Resilience law, promulgated in August, that complicated matters. The Metropolis and the Prefecture did not know whether to redo an impact study. This is the official reason, but perhaps the elected officials also fear the anger of the inhabitants of the agglomeration, which already sees the price of gasoline explode. Without forgetting the yellow vests, which had been heard a lot in Toulouse. In any case, the ZFE is not at all abandoned, we are told. Barbara Pompili, the Minister of Ecological Transition wrote to Jean-Luc Moudenc a few days ago assuring him that a decree securing the ZFE was going to be published from “imminent manner”; when it is done, well the EPZ will be effective.