France, but mostly Paris

[aaaaaa]

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[datadyne007]

Le Monde has an interesting article documenting a recent trend of Mayors enacting automobile-centric policies for their city centers. Although not a right-wing plank, all of the mayors enacting such policies are of the right.

Ces nouveaux maires qui réintroduisent la voiture en ville, 20 juillet 2014, par Olivier Razemon

Dieu merci pour automatique Google Translate dans Chrome... =P
(that's the extent of my french)

Béthune (Pas-de-Calais), was the first to hit the headlines. Grand Place, pedestrian last twenty years, has been made ​​to traffic and parking in the month of April ( read details here ). Then Auray (Morbihan) eliminated its pedestrian zone , which has existed since 2007. A Thionville (Moselle), a bidirectional cycle track was removed from the city center in May. In the program of the new mayor, Anne Grommerch, whose election was also contested , included the desire to "recover parking and traffic flow" . Interviewed by telephone ( the interview is to read here ), eluted stated that redevelopment actually precedes the creation of a true bicycle network, "better structured" . However, a few days later, the city was destroyed arches parking for bicycles. And the end of June, the city council removed a line of credit 82 000 credit for a cycling policy. The most surprising is probably the age of the mayors. The aedile Thionville 43 years, and the mayor of Bethune, author of the famous phrase "We must live in his time . Automotive will not disappear. This is a freedom, mobility " , appears only 37 years.

Wow...

 

[davem]

Paris' ban on vehicles weighing greater than 3.5 tons and coach buses manufactured prior to 2001 went into effect today (non-commercial vehicle restrictions don't go into effect until next year). While this is primarily an anti-pollution measure it will have an effect on vehicular traffic in the city. They're planing to couple the restrictions with a better bicycle network and Metro.

Anne Hidalgo said today,


Which roughly translates to, "we need to move, to go to work, to have as much flexibility/mobility as possible. But mobility in a 21st century city is not simply a private diesel car."

Initial fine is 35 euros, not sure what second offenses are but the Libé article suggested they were much steeper.

I had to look this up. I could see something similar being appropriate hete, although I'm sure it would be a much greater fight to get it done.

I'm sure Paris has some kind of exemption for construction vehicles?

 

[datadyne007]

Paris' ban on vehicles weighing greater than 3.5 tons and coach buses manufactured prior to 2001 went into effect today (non-commercial vehicle restrictions don't go into effect until next year). While this is primarily an anti-pollution measure it will have an effect on vehicular traffic in the city. They're planing to couple the restrictions with a better bicycle network and Metro.

Anne Hidalgo said today,


Which roughly translates to, "we need to move, to go to work, to have as much flexibility/mobility as possible. But mobility in a 21st century city is not simply a private diesel car."

Initial fine is 35 euros, not sure what second offenses are but the Libé article suggested they were much steeper.

So are they planning to do this by issuing special "Paris-approved" registration stickers or plates? Otherwise, how in the heck is this enforced? How is an enforcement officer supposed to know if a tour bus was manufactured in 2000 or 2001 or if a vehicle is 3.7 or 3.5 tons?