And that headline is actually a clue: the city’s plans to further reduce congestion and pollution have often been depicted as anti-car, but the truth is not so simple. While many measures may end up with fewer cars on the street, the goal is to reduce traffic across but not to the city’s central core.
The new plan, now scheduled to take effect in early 2024, before the Summer Olympics, mainly affect the four arrondissements at the city center, the First through the Fourth, which will become a ‘limited traffic zone’ or ZTL.
But rather than reserving streets for pedestrians and cyclists, most of the changes will be based on reducing traffic through the area by people who are headed elsewhere. Local residents and people coming to shop, eat or attend events in the area will still be able to drive. The deputy mayor for transport estimates that 50% of traffic in the four districts is just passing through.
What’s unclear at this point is how it will be enforced other than by “self regulation” and possibly number-plate recognition cameras for recognizing local residents.
