Paris is adding another measure in its fight to clear the air—some of the worst city air in Europe—by clearing the streets of the most-polluting cars, at least during the busy workweek.
Diesel cars built before 2006 will not be allowed inside the city’s ring road, the Peripherique, between 8 am and 8 pm Monday through Friday. The ban also applies to pre-2004 motorbikes, and applies to trucks as well as cars,
Paris has a system which assigns one of six ‘Crit’air’ categories to vehicles, depending on their emissions. They were introduced to allow selective banning of vehicles on days with especially heavy pollution. It’s estimated that about 800,000 vehicles in the Paris area will be affected.
Paris hopes to have all diesel vehicles off the streets by 2024, but that may be an unrealistic goal.
