ZFE in Toulouse. The mayor asks the State to double its aid for clean vehicles
By Guillaume Laurent
Published on
While Low Emission Zone (ZFE) of Toulouse knows a new turn of the screw since the beginning of the year, the hot issue of the moment was unsurprisingly invited to the mayor’s wishes to the press Jean-Luc Moudenc, this Thursday, January 5, 2023. As a reminder, since New Year’s Day, the first private vehicles are now prohibited from entering the Pink City: all those displaying Crit’air 4, 5 and unclassified vignettes (the most polluting) can no longer circulate in Toulouse, but also in part of Tournefeuille and Colomiers. And what it is about individual cars, motorcycles and other two-wheelers.
“The rest to be paid is still far too important”
But while the State and local communities have put in place aid to encourage motorists switch to electric or hybrid vehicles, many households still come up against the high cost of such an investment: “We are perfectly aware of the fact that today, even with the accumulation of aid, the rest to be paid is still far too important for our most modest fellow citizens”, slips Jean-Luc Moudenc.
If he considers that his community “has been in anticipation” and has “enacted these aids in October 2020”, the president of Toulouse Métropole reminds that the initiator of the EPZs is the State, solely responsible in his eyes for the failures of the validated system.
“We have learned that the government has postponed the implementation of automated camera checks to the second half of 2024. We have 18 months left to deal with the badly started points, in particular the question of aid to the most modest”.
He calls for a doubling of aid, in particular the ecological bonus
This Thursday, the mayor of the fourth city of France has especially asked the government to review its copy to help the French take the plunge. Specifically, he calls a doubling of aid, and in particular of ecological bonus accessible to individuals when purchasing a clean vehicle.
“What we are asking the government to do is double state aid, and to ensure that over the next 18 months, we can improve the system”.
“The opposite of ecological planning”
Jean-Luc Moudenc also points “The Paradoxes of the State” between, on the one hand, the President of the Republic who “has taken over the concept of ecological planning”, and on the other, he says, “EPZs which are the complete opposite of planning”. Since each community has the opportunity to take its own measures, he believes “that a visibility problem will arise for our fellow citizens, who will not have the same rules from one city to another…” Fearing the reactions of a disoriented motorist faced with the “differences for circulars in Toulouse and Montpellier for example”, the first vice-president of France Urbaine, the association of major French cities, invokes “a harmony” between territories “in the interest of the citizen”.
Another demand formulated by Jean-Luc Moudenc: “the establishment of a one-stop shop”. He points out that motorists are lost in the face of “the aid systems of the State, the Region and the Metropolis, whose criteria and procedures are not the same”.
“While we have complicated life as much as possible for the people concerned, we ask to be the one-stop shop to simplify things”.
THE Crit’Air sticker, bad criteria?
Decidedly very critical, Jean-Luc Moudenc also dezinced the Crit’Air thumbnail, whose criteria are precisely not always appropriate in his eyes. Again, he called on the State to amend its system, and to analyze the situation “vehicle by vehicle”.
“If we want to get closer to the deep end of the ZFE, which is to avoid pollution – which we approve -, then why not take the reality of pollution, vehicle by vehicle, based on the expertise of professionals ? “, he suggested.
“This would allow flexibility, and it would prevent people who maintain their vehicle well, but have the wrong sticker, from having to change it, while others who have a better sticker, do not maintain it!”.
Crit’Air 4 and 5 excluded from resident parking!
While the Metropolis is preparing in February to allocate new aid to individualswith a view to “helping owners of Crit’Air 3 vehicles (which will be banned from 2024, editor’s note) and motorcycles”, elected officials confirmed this Thursday a measure that had gone unnoticed so far: holders of vignettes classified 4 and 5 can no longer benefit from resident parking : “You have to be consistent”, defended François Chollet, questioned on this subject. The vice-president of the Metropolis for Ecology believes that a derogation on this subject would lead to favoring “sucker cars”.
“With resident parking, a vehicle cannot be left parked for more than 24 hours without moving it. It would be inconsistent to allow resident parking for polluting cars which could therefore no longer move around Toulouse…”.
The Métropole has indeed set up a ZFE pass, who can use these small rollers of circular 52 days a year with a polluting vehicle, but unless they have a parking space or a private garage, where could they park their cars? “I do not intend to extend the list of derogations”, elected Jean-Luc Moudenc, who took care to remind the surrounding inhabitants worried about being able to enter Toulouse: “Vehicles which will not meet the correct criteria could access to the metro park and ride”, even inside the ZFE.
Controls ? The mayor will not give “any directive to the municipal police”
Finally, as for Sanctions for offenders, don’t count on Jean-Luc Moudenc to push the municipal police to zeal around the Crit’Air sticker… “It’s the state that set up the ZFE, and it’s up to it to by ensuring control and sanctions”, defends the mayor of Toulouse. “Even if obviously, if they notice infractions, they (the municipal police, editor’s note) shall follow the law”.
“While the state is expected to help the most modest, I will not give any directive to the municipal police on the ZFE for the next 18 months! Let the state take its responsibilities”.
The national police already aligned
It is – in theory – mid-2024 that the State should be able to its network of automated license plate check vehicles in Toulouse. A Sixty cameras patches need to be deployed four rooms in the Pink City to monitor access to the ZFE. Corn the first VPs have already started to rain… on the side of the National Police, as now confirmed by the Haute-Garonne prefecture, which has so far refused to give figures on this subject…
“As part of roadside checks, the police are subject, among other things, to the possession of a Crit’air sticker (depending on the type of vehicle) allowing them to circulate in the ZFE area. People who do not respect not this measure can receive a fine of class 3 (68 euros) or class 4 (135 euros) depending on the type of vehicle. 2022”.
But according to the prefecture, “since that date”, only “a few dozen offenses have been verbalized”.
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