Paris Implements Vehicle Ban Due To Heavy Air Pollution; France's Capital City Offers Fare Free Public Transit

In their battle against grave pollution, Paris initiated a free public transport within the entire city on Wednesday. Alongside this movement, even-number plated vehicles were the only ones allowed to operate, banning otherwise to take a run.

Experts pronounced that Paris has been experiencing the longest and the worst strike of pollution which was believed to last one more day. This prompted the government to institute the taking turns of vehicles on Tuesday and Wednesday – allowing only vehicles with odd-number license plates, and then the contrary, respectively. To encourage the people to not take their cars on the roads, the government induced public transport to be free for all.

However, despite the implementation of the banning of vehicles, several violations were still committed. According to CNET Magazine, over 1,700 violators were caught and fined up to €35. Additionally, motorists who also disobeyed the prohibition were sanctioned €22.

Honorable Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris expressed in her tweet last Tuesday the need to reduce automobiles in the city, showing a photo of the place overlaid with dust and smog. She stated in the post (in French), “Proof of the necessity to reduce the place of the car in city centres.”

#Paris aujourd'hui. La preuve de la nécessité de réduire la place de la voiture en centre-ville #pollution pic.twitter.com/R10Tdu4o2Y

— Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) December 6, 2016

The pollution was attributed to the anticyclonic flow of the weather which causes the windless environment to prevent the vehicle emissions and domestic wood fires to escape, The Guardian reports. It was noted, however, that Paris was not the only city experiencing this, but also Lyon and Grenoble. Pollution is said to be the third largest cause of death in France.

To tackle a long time solution, mayors from different sectors of the globe assembled during the C40 Mayors Summit, including the mayors of Paris, Athens, Madrid, and Mexico City, who have all vowed to eliminate diesel by 2025. Moreover, Paris also initiated a ban on automobiles released before 1997 and motorcycles released before 2000 during weekdays.