Toulouse hardens its ZFE, Bordeaux prepares its own for 2025
By Denis Lherm – [email protected]
Heavy diesel vehicles from before 2009 and small utility vehicles from before 2005 can no longer drive in the Pink City. In Bordeaux, we are also preparing to set up a low-emissions zone
Starting this Thursday 1uh September, heavy-duty diesel vehicles registered before September 30, 2009 and diesel utility vehicles before December 31, 2005 (Crit’air sticker 4) no longer have circular authorization in the low-emission zone (ZFE) of Toulouse Metropolis. That is a perimeter of 72 km² including the entire municipality of Toulouse plus part of Colomiers and Tournefeuille. This ban is linked to the implementation of the ZFE in Toulouse since 1uh March 2022, which has taken a new step. Until now, the only diesel trucks and utility vehicles from before the year 2000 (Crit’air 5 sticker and unclassified vehicles) were excluded from Toulouse. At 1uh March 2023, Crit’air 4 private vehicles will in turn be banned.
A legal obligation
The establishment of ZFEs in France is made compulsory in urban areas with more than 150,000 inhabitants by the mobility orientation law (LOM) no later than 1uh January 2025. Some, like Toulouse, were forced to come there prematurely due to poor air quality. Bordeaux is not one of them, but it must have an effective ZFE on December 31, 2024 at the latest. As in other agglomerations, it is a question of banning the most polluting vehicles. First the old diesels, then the oldest gasolines. The distinction is made on the basis of the Crit’air vignettes, which make it possible to classify the vehicles according to their age.
ZFE under construction
The future ZFE of Bordeaux is one of the sensitive files on the office of the president of the Metropolis, Alain Anziani. The main lines are known: it will cover the entire intra-ring road, ie 14 municipalities representing two thirds of the inhabitants of the agglomeration. Its implementation will be gradual. Everything else is under discussion between the mayors of the cities concerned. The thorniest issue: aid to support residents forced to change vehicles. A public consultation phase will take place in early 2023.