AS of August of this year, Parisian road users will be restricted to 30 kph (19mph) on all of the Paris city streets except the ring road which will stay at 50kph. Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, saying this is being done in a bid to transform Paris into an environmentally friendly city, reduce accidents & pollution, and hope to make the French capital a pedestrian haven.
Sounds very Partridge-esque. ‘Jean-Luc, what do you think of the pedestrianisation of Paris city centre? I’m dead against it!’
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What’s more, plans are set for motorcycles and scooters to no longer enjoy free parking in the city, instead required to pay an hourly parking fee. Plus, the current 140,000 street parking spots are set to be drastically cut to around 60,000 - with the extra space due to be used for pedestrian areas.
You may be wondering, what’s going on here, then? Where is everyone going to park, and how will people get around?
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The grand plan is for Parisians to be encouraged to use cycles and their feet, or ‘à pied’ (thanks GCSE French) to get around the city centre, and make use of the public transport system. Almost all motorised vehicles will be banned from the inner 4 city boroughs, and it remains to be seen if electric vehicles will be given an exception to encourage eco-friendly commuting.
We’ve seen a number of streets in the centre of London being restricted down to 20mph, and despite being quite annoying for getting around, you can certainly understand the reasoning. Plus, a 20mph limit only really applies when there’s no traffic, and even filtering above 20mph is often a commuters daydream.
What I can’t quite understand is the outright limitation of parking spaces and motorised mobility in the city. People need to get to work, and scooters are a great way of getting around. Electric scooters will still need a place to park!
So will e-scooters be allowed as the way forward? Will Paris become a terrifying bicycle haven, like in Amsterdam? Or will we see horses make a triumphant return?
Credit: RideApart
