Paris mayor wants to ban polluting trucks, buses
The mayor of Paris said she wants to ban polluting buses and trucks in the French capital from July to fight pollution in one of the world's most visited cities.
Paris has a relatively high population density and tourists are often surprised by the traffic levels in and around its historic sights.
The city also experiences periodic pollution spikes, forcing authorities to impose temporary speed limits on motorists, make public transport free and even ban vehicles from running on certain days.
"I want to ban the most polluting buses and heavy goods vehicles from July 1, 2015," Anne Hidalgo told Le Monde daily in an interview published Wednesday.
"And on July 1, 2016... this ban will extend to all of the most polluting vehicles," she said, adding that the area where the ban would be enacted was still under negotiation.
"I would like this ban to first apply to the whole of Paris, apart from the peripherique (ring road around the city) and the woods of Paris," she said.
Hidalgo is due next month to formally submit her anti-pollution plan for the city of more than two million people.
She has already announced she wants to ban all diesel vehicles by 2020, limit cars in the city centre, and extend zones where the speed limit is fixed at 30 kilometres (18 miles) an hour.
She also wants to double the amount of cycle lanes as part of a 100-million-euro ($113 million) bike development plan, and roll out a system of electric-powered bikes along the same lines as the city's popular velib temporary bike hire network.
Hidalgo said if her plan to ban polluting trucks and buses came to fruition, she planned to incentivise businesses to buy cleaner vehicles through financial aid and prime rate loans in a bid to avoid affecting deliveries in the city.
© 2015 AFP
