If one looks at the figures at the level of the Greater Paris Metropolis or the Ile-de-France region, an observer cannot fully understand the impact of the tightening of the Low Emission Zone (LEZ), with the ban on individual vehicles Crit ‘Air 3.
Indeed, it seems that 19% of the vehicles circulating in Ile-de-France are Crit’Air 3. This is already enormous, since it means that one vehicle in five will no longer be able to circulate within the A86 (traffic axis excluded of this system) with the ZFE-m of the Greater Paris Metropolis, from Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Almost a million vehicles are affected in Ile-de-France!
However, not all the inhabitants of Ile-de-France are in the same boat… Already, at the departmental level, 24% of private vehicles in Seine-Saint-Denis, 22% in Val-d’Oise and the 21% in Seine-et-Marne are Crit’Air 3. In Paris they only represent 15%.
Seine-Saint-Denis residents attacked
In Seine-Saint-Denis, there are 134,850 private vehicles (1) which are Crit’Air 3. In the Top 5 of the municipalities of Ile-de-France, they are all part of the department and the accountants are panicking: Pierrefitte-sur-Seine (31%), Île-Saint-Denis (28.8%), La Courneuve (28%), Bondy (27.6%) and Drancy (26.8%).
Unfortunately, the vast majority of households affected by the driving ban do not have the financial means to change vehicles for a Crit’Air 2 or 1. The average income (which divides the population in two, half earns less and the other more ) amounts to 1,539 euros for this department of Ile-de-France. It is the lowest of all metropolitan departments (2). And it must also be taken into account that the price of used vehicles increased by more than 30% between 2022 and June 2024.
Health or freedom of movement?
In Ile-de-France, air quality has improved in recent years. The most polluting vehicles, Crit’Air 4 and 5, are already prohibited from circulating. However, according to documents from the Greater Paris Metropolis, 5,000 inhabitants of Ile-de-France are exposed above the nitrogen dioxide threshold, that is, 40 μg/m3. Airparif (3) estimates that the implementation of this new stage of the ZFE-m (private vehicles, utility vehicles and buses) would have the potential to reduce air pollutants by 4%. Consequently, banning the circulation of Crit’Air 3 vehicles does not solve the problem of air pollution in the Ile-de-France region. The only certainty is the deprivation of freedom of movement for a million households in Ile-de-France.
The ban on the circulation of Crit’Air 3 vehicles is socially unfair and ineffective in reducing air pollutants. According to APUR figures, around 405,000 workers in Ile-de-France use their Crit’Air 3 car to go to work in the EPZ-m: “Their strong propensity to work staggered hours, partly outside the common transport schedule, often makes it difficult to find a car” (4).
During the Covid-19 epidemic, these workers were “essential.” With the ZFE-m they have become “accessories”, since their destiny is of no interest to anyone. In four and a half years, the Greater Paris Metropolis has helped 6,000 homes, a far cry from the problems exposed.
In conclusion, Seine-Saint-Denis made France and the entire world dream during the Olympic Games. By 2025, a nightmare is looming for the inhabitants of this department and for all the modest homes on the Ile-de-France. How to avoid it?
On the one hand, it is necessary to delay the entry into force of this ban and, in particular, the fine of 68 euros for each infringement. On the other hand, we must prepare to help nearly 500,000 households in Ile-de-France so as not to deprive them of employment or mobility. Especially for the 100,000 households in Ile-de-France that live below the poverty line. Three billion euros would be necessary to fight air pollution and improve the health of the inhabitants of the Ile-de-France, as well as to avoid the impoverishment and house arrest of half a million inhabitants.
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(1) Implementation of the Metropolitan Mobility Low Emission Zone, Vehicle fleet impacted by the 3rd stage of the ZFE-m — Greater Paris Metropolis, 2024; https://jeparticipe.metropolegrandparis.fr/media/default/0001/01/63253daf580c465ef26167caf6ad3093514fef69.pdf
(2) Income inequalities according to departments – Observatory of Inequalities, 07/19/2023; https://www.inegalites.fr/Les-inegalites-de-revenus-selon-les-departements
(3) “Crit’Air 3” stage of the metropolitan EPZ-m: what impacts are expected on air quality – Airparif, May 2024; https://jeparticipe.metropolegrandparis.fr/media/default/0001/01/eeaea3a9c0e49975aaa30c3e5f7632695ace414e.pdf
(4) ZFE mobility in the Greater Paris metropolis – APUR, August 2024; https://www.apur.org/sites/default/files/note257_zfe_mobilite_mgp_synthese_impacts.pdf?token=B7p7bPbU
Source: BFM TV
