Antoine Bienvault / Photo credit: RICCARDO MILANI / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP 20:50 p.m., November 22, 2023

As part of its Climate Plan, the City of Paris announced that the speed limit would be lowered to 50 km/h on the ring road after the Olympic Games. A measure intended to reduce pollution but which received a frosty reception from the motorists met by Europe 1.

At the entrance to the Paris ring road, already saturated at the end of the afternoon, Hassane sighs at the wheel of his white sedan. For this daily driver, the passage to 50km / h on the most congested axis of France, announced by the City of Paris in its Climate Plan, is a heresy. "It's hell. Already at 70, it's jammed everywhere, but if we go to 50, it will be a disaster."

"It's going to force people to go through Paris"

This anger is shared by Adbel, a VTC driver, who lives more than 30km from the capital and who already suffers from traffic jams every morning. "To go to Paris, I have to go very early in the morning, otherwise it's dead. This measure will cause a lot of traffic jams and it will not solve any problems," he said.

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At the same time, Paris City Hall also wants to reserve a lane for buses and carpooling. With his hands on the wheel of his city car, Youri doesn't understand the point of the measure. "If we remove a lane, we're going to stand still. And it's going to force people to go through Paris, so more people in Paris. We have to tell Anne Hidalgo that we need to ride." All share the feeling that Wednesday's announcements are a further step towards the elimination of cars in Paris.