Covid-19 wants to kill car in Paris

Text by: Philippe Lecaplain

This will be one of the issues after May 11. Anne Hidalgo does not want Paris to be invaded by cars during the deconfinement. While she has already reduced the place of the car, the mayor of the French capital wants to take advantage of the crisis period to exclude private vehicles from several major axes, including the famous rue de Rivoli.

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Many fear that, for lack of sufficient public transport, the capital will find itself facing a huge influx of cars from May 11. Anne Hidalgo wishes to “double” the three metro lines most frequented by cycle lanes following on the surface roughly the same route.

The rue de Rivoli would thus constitute the central part of the "bicycle line". This artery which almost cuts Paris in two from east to west would be redeveloped with a very wide track for bicycles and another for taxis and buses only.

Anne Hidalgo is already delighted: "  We can move from the Porte de Vincennes to the Porte Maillot, passing Bastille, rue de Rivoli, Place de la Concorde and the Champs-Elysées  ".

20 million euros to "bikers"

Words made just after the government announces that 50 euros will be given to have his bike repaired by certified craftsmen. The Minister of Transport declares that "  the bicycle must be the little queen of deconfinement  ". In total, 20 million euros must be granted to "bikers" (those who go to work by bicycle).

The association 40 million motorists, it sees red. On the contrary, says his general delegate, the car is the best way to move "safely" during deconfinement. And Pierre Chasseray to continue: “  Mrs. Hidalgo justifies by health reasons a decision which she wanted to take for two years for ideological reasons. On the contrary, the epidemic makes it necessary to give space to the car, for example by reopening the tracks on the bank  ”.

"  If we close the Rivoli axis, we have a carryover of traffic on the adjacent and parallel tracks, we clog up more, and that's not how we can pretend to fight against pollution, comments Jean-François Legaret , mayor (Les Républicains) of the 1st arrondissement, one of the districts bordered by rue de Rivoli. This is exactly what happened with the waterways on the banks  ”. During this closure, many mayors of suburban cities had expressed their anger at a lack of consultation and because by mechanical effect, this "transferred" traffic jams beyond the ring road. Today, anger is raging again.

To encourage motorists to leave their cars in the garage, the mayor of Paris also wants to create new car parks at the gates of the capital.

The plan of the mayor of Paris will be revealed in detail next Tuesday, May 5. In theory, it should only be worth the time of the epidemic.

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