Ageing cars to be banned from Paris, says mayor

The writing may be on the wall for the iconic 2CV or Renault Five rattling through the streets of Paris.

Socialist mayor Bertrand Delanoë intends to outlaw (by September 2014) the use of cars and utility vehicles more than 17 years old and lorries or buses more than 18 years old.

Motorcycles built before 2004 will also be forbidden. The mayor points out they are the ‘most polluting and noisiest’.

The ban will apply to all vehicles inside the A86 motorway that surrounds the French capital.

Philippe Goujon, head of the right-wing opposition UMP federation in the Paris council criticised the move as ‘anti-social, anti-surbuban and anti-motorist’.

Other measures unveiled include one to erect toll barriers on cross-city motorways for lorries.

Eco-taxes will be also imposed for those using Paris’ inner ring road, le Périphérique, with heavy vehicles tracked via satellite or number plate recognition.

The idea, the mayor said, is to – progressively and in a concerted manner – ban all lorries from driving in or around the capital.

The speed limit on the ring road will be cut from 80kph (50mph) to 70kph (43mph), while the number of 30kph zones within Paris will be multiplied starting mid-2013.

They are part of a plan to turn Paris into a Low Emission Zone, cutting emissions by 30 per cent by 2015. Failure to comply with European air pollution norms could see Brussels slap a 100 million-euro fine on France in 2016.

Air pollution is responsible for 43,000 deaths per year in France and is estimated to take six months off Parisians’ lives compared to those outside the capital.

The ban is the latest in Mr Delanoë’s war on ‘the hegemony of the automobile’ that has seen him introduce trams, bike and bus lanes and the popular cycle rental scheme.

In the past year, he has launched Autolib’, the electric car rental system and begun pedestrianising stretches of road along the banks of the Seine.

France retains a heavy reliance on diesel, used by 60 per cent of all vehicles and emitting three times as many harmful fine particles as petrol.

Users of old cars are only thought to account for three per cent of the 4.5 million or so vehicles in the Paris region