Paris Goes Car-Free For A Day

Paris, one of the prettiest cities on earth, decided to ban all forms of automobiles on its roads for a day with the intent of leaving the streets for slower, cleaner forms of transport such as bicycles, roller-blades and walking of course. This is not the first time that the city of Paris has experimented with car bans, but this has been one of the most ambitious experiments with the authorities banning cars in an area of almost 105 square kilometres in the city.

(Paris Car-Free Day)

Photo Credit: (C. Najdovski Twitter Account)

"This initiative requires an enormous amount of preparation," city mayor Anne Hidalgo told Le Parisien newspaper today. "Particularly because this year the zone has been enlarged to include the whole of Paris." Hidalgo, a Socialist, was elected in 2014 promising to tackle pollution in the capital and she has focused on building new bus and cycle lanes and reclaiming roads -- leading critics to see her agenda as too radical and anti-car. "What's it for? Grumbled Pierre Chasseray, the head of the lobby group "40 million drivers" when asked about the car-free day by AFP. "It's just PR to say that cars aren't good."

The rule came into force from 11:00am on last Friday and lasted till 6:00 pm. There were a few exceptions though. Taxis, buses and emergency vehicles continued to ply. There were some exceptions for families with elderly people or genuine needs as well. But such cars had to respect the speed limit of 30 kmph for the day. The authorities had also deployed lots of police personnel to keep a check on unauthorised driving and people who broke the rule for the day were fined anywhere between 90-135 euros. Overall, the citizens of Paris were requested to use public transport or other cleaner means of transport for a single day in Paris.

One of the Paris Transport officials, Christophe Najdovski said that the aim is simply to enjoy the city in a different way, with the day meant to be educational, fun and friendly.

Main Picture Credit: Reuters