Low emission zone in Toulouse: how many polluting vehicles could no longer circulate
The ZFE comes into force on March 1 in Toulouse. The most polluting vehicles will be gradually excluded. The Metropolis estimates it at 45,000.
The announcement of the entry into force on March 1 of the Low Emission Zone, from which the most polluting vehicles will be excluded, has reignited the war of figures.
In “La Dépêche” of February 3, the president of the Mobilians union (ex-CNPA) in Haute-Garonne, Raymond Vié, puts forward the figure of 38% of vehicles prohibited in 2024, or nearly 180,000 cars and trucks in the metropolis. , and 300,000 more if we take into account the intermunicipalities located less than 20 km away…
battle of numbers
Impressive figures taken from the Statistical Directory of Road Vehicles (RSVERO) of the Data and Statistical Studies Service (SDES) of the Ministry of Ecological Transition. Who can suggest that one in two motorists around Toulouse, roughly speaking, will no longer be able to circular in the ZFE in 2024…
Figures strongly disputed by François Chollet, vice-president of Toulouse Métropole. The community, it advances the figure of 16% of the rolling stock of the Metropolis prohibited from ZFE in 2024, or 45,000 vehicles.
A “field” investigation against raw figures…
“We carried out what is called a “plaque” survey, with the Atmo organization, explains the elected official. This is what all cities do to assess the impact of their ZFE. A count is made over a given lap of time, of cars actually circulating in the ZFE, to know where they are coming from. Indeed, not all of Toulouse’s residential area moves into the ZFE every day. We cannot say that the inhabitants of Tarn or Gers come to Toulouse every day… It is therefore biased to give these raw figures, which result from a state of the rolling stock in 2020, but not the reality of the vehicles which actually circulate within the perimeter of the ZFE (Toulouse in almost all, the western ring road in particular)”, estimates the Toulouse elected official.
For the metropolis, the figures given by Mobilians do not also take into account the “natural renewal” of vehicles. Thus, according to the Interprofessional Technical Center for the Study of Atmospheric Pollution, the share of polluting vehicles (40% in 2020 at the national level) would thus “naturally” drop to only 16% of vehicles in 2024.
Beyond these figures, the actual application of the ZFE – intended to significantly reduce polluting emissions, it should be remembered – will also depend on the number of derogations granted, and the effective monitoring of its application. And for that, there is still a long way to go…