Toulouse ZFE: on January 1, 2023, first bans on private vehicles
The Toulouse Low Emissions Zone will apply to private vehicles on January 1, 2023. The Metropolis voted this Thursday for a relaxation for small riders.
Coming into force in March 2022 for heavy goods vehicles, vans and vans, the Toulouse Low Emission Zone (ZFE), which aims to ban the most polluting vehicles within the perimeter of the city extended to the western ring road, will apply. to individuals from January 1, 2023. The first bans are aimed at vehicles classified Crit’Air 4, Crit’Air 5 and unclassified. In other words, petrol cars from before September 1997 and diesels from before 2006. For two-wheelers, registration must not be earlier than 2004.
For this device wanted by the State, which wants to reduce air pollution, it is a key step in the face of the risk of an outcry in the population. In Toulouse, according to François Chollet, vice-president in charge of the environment, 16,000 private cars would thus be prohibited in 2023, according to his estimate, which is based on a count of vehicles circulating at time “t” in Toulouse. In 2024, when the Crit’Air 3 is banned, 47,000 vehicles would be affected.
Online registration
During the Metropolitan Council on Thursday, the elected officials voted for a relaxation of a rule which everyone sent although it is difficult to have people accept. Moreover, for the time being, controls, via cameras, are not activated by the State until mid-2024. Only random checks, during an infraction, could be granted next year in Toulouse.
The derogation voted unanimously aims to take into account the “small riders”, that is to say the owners of prohibited vehicles but who use them little, the elderly for example. The small riders’ pass, which will come into effect at the end of January, will allow them to ride 52 days a year, i.e. one day a week. However, you will have to anticipate a few days by registering for registration on the Toulouse Métropole site for the desired date. A document to be printed will justify the movement of the vehicle.
This Thursday, the Métropole indicated that it had helped 476 people for the purchase of a new vehicle and 4,704 for a bicycle. François Chollet plans, in February, to expand this aid.
During the debates, Caroline Honvault and Antoine Maurice, for the opposition, while saying they were in favor of the ZFE, criticized “the replacement of vehicles by vehicles” without there being an “alternative to the car”. “You are playing the ostrich policy hoping that the government will back down,” said Caroline Honvault.