ZFE in Toulouse. The first private cars banned from Sunday, which changes on January 1
By Guillaume Laurent
Published on
Only a few hours left before a new turn of the screw! Sunday 1uh January 2023the device of Low Emission Zone (ZFE), which aims to improve air quality in the Pink City, as in all urban areas with more than 150,000 inhabitants, will for the first time concern passenger cars individualsa Toulouse, where motorists the most polluting can no longer circular. What you need to know about these new terms.
Here are the new vehicles concerned
While until now, only professional vehicles were affected by the measure, as of Sunday, the circulation of all Crit’air 4, 5 and unclassified vehicles (the most polluting) will be banned in Toulouse, but also part of Tournefeuille and Colomiers, whether individual cars, of motorcycles and others two wheels.
- Motorists: is your private car affected?
- Bikers: is your two-wheeler affected?
As for the vehicles utilities and the heavyweight which have these same thumbnails, they are already concerned, depending on the year of registration, since 1uh March 2022.
Who will still be able to drive in Toulouse in the future?
As of January 1, 2024, Crit’air 3 vehicles (both private and professional) could no longer drive within the perimeter of the ZFE. Concretely, in a year and a day, only vehicles certified Crit’air 2, 1, as well as electric or hydrogen vehicles, will be authorized to circulate inside the zone.
What is the current scope?
For latecomers or newcomers, remember that the perimeter of the ZFE in the Pink City includes: almost the entire municipality of Toulouse a inside the device, with some subtleties.
Concretely, the area included in the ZFE includes all the inner quarters of the device, but also part of the West ring road and some road to Auchas well as a (small) part of Colomiers and of Turnsheet. The east ring road and the Rainbow Bypass, however, are not part of it.
A circular pass 52 days a year, with a polluting vehicle
Another novelty to come in 2023: the pass ZFE, voted by the elected officials of Toulouse Métropole on Thursday, December 8, 2022 to come to the aid of “little riders”. The principle is relatively simple: all vehicles excluded from the Toulouse ZFE because they pollute too much – whether or not they reside within the aforementioned perimeter, whether they are from Toulouse or not, i.e. all motorized vehicles certified Crit’Air 4 and 5 and not classified at 1uh January – maybe circular 52 days a yearafter filling out a form.
“It will be necessary to create an online account on the ZFE platform (specially created by the Métropole for this purpose, editor’s note), then ask for a dated certificate which will be valid for one day”, explained Francois Chollet, vice-president of the Métropole, in charge of the ZFE. “This forces people to anticipate their movements. And they could do it 52 times a year, or once a week.” He had announced that the measure would come into force in the first quarter of 2023. According to our information, the said platform would be put online January 31.
News canceled in 2023, especially for bikers
Last novelty in the boxes for this year: them retraining aid intended for the inhabitants of Toulouse Métropole will be extended to new types of vehicles, during 2023. This extension should be the subject of a deliberation during the next metropolitan council, in february. “The idea is to modify the criteria so that the aid system also benefits vehicles with a Crit’air 3 sticker who will be excluded from the ZFE in 2024″, explained François Chollet to Toulouse News. “These first ones will also be extended to motorcycle changes. Users have until now been excluded from this clean vehicle bonus scheme, supported by the Metropolis and which is aimed at the inhabitants of its territory. Aid, granted subject to resources, which allows the replacement of a polluting vehicle by a low-emission vehicle.
This announcement was recalled by the representatives of the angry bikers, who had made their anger heard in December, by blocking the device and covering radars… but who still hope to go further. They are still demanding a permanent derogation from the Toulouse ZFE for all bikers because, they claim, of “their low impact on the environment”.
What is the risk in the absence of a sticker?
Contrary to popular belief, the Crit’Air sticker is already compulsory for everyone, in order to drive completely legally in Toulouse, whatever the vehicle concerned, whether it is a petrol, diesel, electric, or even bioethanol car…
If he has not affixed the Crit’Air sticker to his windshield, any motorist, motorcyclist and other heavy goods vehicle driver is now liable to be considered as offender. In the event of non-compliance with the ZFE, he is liable to a fixed class 3 fine, i.e. 68 euros for light vehicles and light commercial vehicles, and 135 euros for heavyweights.
Automated camera checks in 2024
In force since March 2022 in Toulouse so that the ZFE still remains totally painless for road users, but it will not last: it will soon be equipped with automated checks. The government intends to establish a system of “control-penalty” via radars equipped with cameras allowing the automated reading of license plates, registered on the edge and inside the perimeter. Initially planned for 2023, the measure was postponed by the government until “second half of the year 2024”, a indicated Christophe Bechu, the Minister for the Ecological Transition. As for Toulouse, a Sixty fixed cameras will be deployed” by the State to control vehicles in the ZFE, had blown François Chollet. “The deployment of technical devices” is in the cards, according to the prefecture, which refers to the Ministry of Ecology: “The State is already working on it alongside the communities in order to succeed by 2024”.
Clearly: from mid-2024, it will be better to be in good standing at the time of the circular inside the ZFE, because these checks will be carried out by automated plate reading. Unstoppable! But until then, if the risk of sanction is reduced, it is not zero, because the police can verbalize you now…
Compulsory since 2017 in the event of pollution episodes
“As regards the control of vignettes”, indicates the prefecture of Haute-Garonne to Toulouse news, “it should be remembered that these are compulsory in the EPZs”. And the State services also point out that since 2017, “they are also mandatory in the event of the implementation of differentiated circulation decided by the prefects in the event pollution episode”. Since 2017, the representative of the State in Haute-Garonne can indeed decide to “reduce the circulation of vehicles according to their polluting emissions and Crit’Air stickers”.
Motorists have not had to worry about this problem for five years, because as the prefecture reminds us, “to date, this measure has not been implemented in the department”, but it could perfectly to be in the future, even before the arrival of the cameras, plunging thousands of motorists without Crit’Air vignettes into illegality.
The police are already punishing, at the turn of other offenses
Last October, François Chollet also assured that the police were keeping an eye out, even before the entry into force of these automated camera checks: “The vehicle sticker is already controlled by the national police or the municipal police (…) When you are arrested, you have to present your papers and [les forces de l’ordre, ndlr] now controls the Crit’air thumbnail”.
Clearly: at the turn of any offense, any motorist can be sanctioned by the municipal police, or the national police, for the absence of a Crit’Air sticker, or non-compliance with the ZFE. A system that has hitherto been very abstract… and which will quickly become concrete!
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