Parisians, leave your car in the garage ! – The Parisian

Piétons, cyclists and rollerbladers, Paris is up to you ! On Sunday, nearly half of the territory of the capital will be closed to traffic (except authorised vehicles, such as public transport, emergency vehicles, taxis, or deliveries, of which the speed will be limited to 20 km/h), between 11 hours and 18 hours. This “Day without cars” XXL ” is organized by the city of Paris in partnership with the prefecture of police.

” It is like for the children. Sometimes it’s necessary to push people to live the experience and convince them that it is positive. I hope that this operation will result in an awareness, ” says Helena, a shopping of the X^e arrondissement. Anabelle, who is doing his shopping in the neighborhood Haussmann, has abandoned his car for the past ten years. “It is so nice to walk in Paris. You discover some small shops, a terrace café nice or a magnificent mansion in a courtyard hidden behind a porte-cochere, ” says this resident of the II^e.

It was beautiful to applaud the initiative of the two hands, Gislain will come from Maisons-Alfort (Val-de-Marne) to Paris by car. “I’ll go a little earlier than usual to arrive before setting up the perimeter. The ride is faster than by public transport. “

If much pays lip service to the initiative, some felt that it should go even further. “For this type of operation does not remain anecdotal, it would be necessary to renew it every month to start and then every Sunday,” suggests Gislain, yet commuter. “There is still much to be done to improve the air we breathe in Paris “, stresses Anna, a Parisian of 25 years old who lives in the X^e. A point of view that is shared by Agnes, a woman XIII^e : “It’s not the traffic problem. It is also necessary to encourage people to change their mode of life, and to turn to sustainable development. “

For others, this is ” demagogic “. “This is a political display “, fulminates Dan, a trader, hostile to ” anti-car of the Paris city hall “. “Me, I’m in for the day without the Parisians “, rigole-t-il.

Anne Hidalgo (PS), the mayor of Paris, wants to reduce the place of cars in the city. After the piétonnisation of the Champs-Elysees on the first Sunday of every month, she wants to close to traffic the road on the embankment of the right bank 3.3 km of the tunnel des Tuileries at the port of the Arsenal. The final prohibition must be voted on Monday at the Council of Paris.