- The city of Marseille has suffered from air pollution for several years, due to a lack of alternative soft transport.
- With deconfinement, environmental experts and associations fear that the situation will deteriorate.
- Some are calling for the emergency development of the bicycle, which makes it possible to reconcile health constraints and respect for the environment.
Walk more than a kilometer from home, find your friends ... The deconfinement is expected by all Marseillais. But it is also feared, and not only because of the health risks of such a measure. While the Prime Minister has detailed the government's deconfinement plan, in Marseille, environmental experts and associations are worried that air pollution will explode once the containment is lifted.
A recent ranking established by Greenpeace in fact designated Marseille as the worst student city in terms of air pollution. It should be said that the second city of France combines at the same time a deficit of public transport, a lack of cycle paths which makes it the least cycle city of France and a recourse rather anchored in the habits to the car, which the places on the podium of the most congested cities in France.
Goodbye public transport
While deconfinement promises to be coupled with constraints in public transport, between the fear of contamination, the wearing of mandatory masks and reduced frequencies, will the Marseillais definitely abandon the little soft transport available to them? "If we find the level of activity, in terms of car traffic, before March 17, we will have a problem with air quality," said Dominique Robin, president of Atmosud. We fear that the Marseillais and those who live in the surroundings favor autosolisme, that is to say the fact of using his car to move around while being alone inside. "
"One third of air pollution in Marseille and its metropolis is linked to car traffic," deplores Stéphane Coppey, president of France Nature Environnement in Bouches-du-Rhône. Public transport absorbs 23 to 30% of trips in central Marseille. Imagine, half of these people no longer take the transport, for fear. The consequences on air quality can be catastrophic. "
Cycling as an emergency solution
And to call on the Aix-Marseille Provence metropolis to take emergency measures to develop ... the bicycle, which appears to be the mode of travel that allows health constraints to be respected without having any real impact on pollution from the air already marked in the Marseille city. "It's a question of political will," says Stéphane Coppey. We can set up simple things, such as the redevelopment of 2x2 lanes. "
Contacted, the metropolis said that "in addition to the fact that the prefects will also have a major role to play in coordinating deconfinement at the local level, constructive work and dialogues have been underway for several weeks with mobility stakeholders to achieve a complete roadmap allowing resumption of activity and maximum security for travelers and staff alike. "
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- Deconfinement
- Coronavirus
- Covid 19
- Marseille