Lyon puts a brake on the deployment of the ZFE

So far very proactive in the deployment of its low-emissions zone (ZFE), the metropolis of Lyon is now pressing the brake pedal… in the midst of an episode of pollution.

If, as expected, the most polluting vehicles will soon no longer have access to this territory (the Crit’air 4 on January 1, 2024, the Crit’air 5 a year later), the local authority has just decided to postpone for two years, until the beginning of 2028, the entry into force of the ban for Crit’air 2. Phase which will mark in particular the exclusion of all diesel vehicles.

State finger pointing

The EELV president of the metropolis speaks of an “adjustment of the calendar”. Bruno Bernard has also announced that he is renouncing to submit in March to the Metropolitan Council a project to extend the ZFE to the east of Lyon. A new project will be put to the vote in June. “Communes could integrate the perimeter on a voluntary basis”, advances the elected official, who does not exclude, in the long term, in the event of the persistence of a high level of pollution, to create “a second perimeter”.

The ecologist justifies this double decision by pointing to “a lack of support from the State for a device that it created itself”. Thus, continues Bruno Bernard, “the deployment of radars to ensure the effectiveness of the bans has been postponed from year to year. It is now announced for the second half of 2024”. Another reproach: “The State does not invest in alternatives to the individual car. But we need a Marshall Plan for public transport! »

Eleven EPZs have been created to date

Lyon’s announcement hardly surprises Bruno Millienne, MoDem deputy and co-rapporteur last year of a flash mission on the EPZs. “The device raises a problem of acceptability on the part of individuals and businesses. Especially since we don’t currently have enough second-hand vehicles to replace the Crit’air 3 fleet…” For this parliamentarian, “Lyon has made its ZFE a subject of political politics but has found caught up in the reality principle”.

This principle also seems to have been imposed in Paris, which gave up banning access to its ZFE for Crit’air 3 vehicles in July 2022. This makes the end of diesel in the capital very hypothetical, announced for 2024 and the Olympics.

To date, only 11 of the 43 agglomerations with more than 150,000 inhabitants have an EPZ. All must have done so by 2025.

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