Authorities in Paris have created a dedicated car-sharing lane during rush-hour on its notorious ring road as part of efforts to reduce congestion and pollution on one of Europe’s busiest motorways.
Paris city hall began the trial scheme on Monday, restricting the outside lane of the périphérique to passenger vehicles carrying at least two people from 7am to 10.30am and 4pm to 8pm. The lane will also be available to public transport, taxis, the emergency services and vehicles used by disabled people.
After a first “learning phase”, artificial intelligence will be used to identify vehicles that should not be in the lane and send a message instructing them to move over. After 1 May, fines of €135 will be imposed on those drivers who fail to comply.
Officials said the measure built on restrictions brought in last October reducing the maximum speed on the ring road from 70kph to 50kph, a move that is reported to have reduced traffic jams, pollution and accidents.
“The périphérique is the busiest urban motorway in Europe and a real health scandal. The half a million people who live here and there along it are exposed to pollution levels that are still too high, with 30% of children suffering asthma,” Dan Lert, a deputy Paris mayor in charge of ecological transition, told Le Monde.
However, the pilot sparked anger among critics who said it would worsen the situation on a road used by an estimated 1.5m vehicles daily.
Pierre Chasseray, of the organisation 40 millions d’automobilistes (40 million motorists), said it was a “totally stupid decision”. “For those using the périphérique it will waste even more time, create more jams and is yet another measure against motorists,” Chasseray said.
The organisation, which has launched a petition against the measure, claimed the scheme imposed “a new form of discrimination” on drivers.
“Rather than improve the flow of traffic this measure risks creating even more congestion and a new form of discrimination,” said Philippe Nozière, its president. “Those who cannot car-share will find themselves forced to use lanes that are even more congested to the detriment of their time and comfort.”
“The creation of a lane reserved for carpoolers will only lead to traffic jams on the other lanes and will undoubtedly worsen the already chaotic situation on the ring road,” added Nozière.
Valérie Pécresse, of the centre-right Les Républicains (LR) party and president of the Île-de-France region, has written to Paris’s socialist mayor, Anne Hidalgo, demanding city hall stop the experiment after three months if it results in massive jams. City hall has said the dedicated lane will be marked by signs that can be turned off in the event of bad congestion.
The périphérique restriction is part of a programme of measures city hall has introduced to tackle pollution and improve air quality since 2014. These have included promoting public transport, establishing a network of bike lanes, pedestrianising areas of the capital and restricting vehicles with high emissions from access to the city.
Source: www.theguardian.com