An alternative vehicle that is less polluting and bulky will therefore quickly pay for itself, but one can wonder what use is made of the funds collected by this "green" toll?
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City tolls may soon be installed at the entrance to cities
In Paris, Marseille or Lyon, the passage to an urban toll could cost 5 euros.
The government intends to facilitate the establishment of urban tolls at the entrances of large cities, to "limit automobile traffic and fight against pollution", according to a copy of the draft mobility policy ( LOM) published Wednesday, October 17 by the information site on public policies Context. According to the site, this is the final grind.
The text provides for the possibility of agglomerations with more than 100.000 inhabitants to install an urban toll at their entrance. The official text calls this last "congestion tariff", notes Le Figaro. It will be collected by the mobility organizing authority (AOM) at the local level, generally cities or communities of municipalities. For Île-de-France, it is about “Île-de-France Mobilités”.
A "multiplier coefficient" for large vehicles
It is up to the AOM to define the price of the toll and its hours of application, continues Le Figaro, who was able to consult the entire document. The text provides for a ceiling of 2,50 euros, which can be doubled in towns with more than 500.000 inhabitants. This is the case for Paris, Marseille and Lyon. Vehicles considered as non-light could also be assigned a "multiplying coefficient at most equal to 4, depending on the category of the vehicle".
Packages could also be applicable, or even free, especially for drivers "whose home or workplace is located in the area subject to congestion tariff", states the text. Free access could also be applied to vehicles of general interest, belonging to the Ministry of Defense or providing public transport, specifies Le Figaro.
The text also mentions a "teleservice" system so that users can pay "the amount of the tariff before crossing the perimeter of the zone", adds the daily.
The mobility orientation law, in which this text sent to the Council of State is inscribed, should pass next year before the Parliament.
Anne Hidalgo doesn't say no
Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne had already mentioned the possibility of facilitating the establishment of urban tolls, as is the case in London or Milan. In the British capital, one of the most polluted cities in Europe, drivers of the most polluting cars have to pay a tax ("toxic charge") of around 10 euros per day to drive in the center. The city has already applied since 2003 an urban toll ("congestion charge"), from Monday to Friday, with exemptions for electric cars and very low emissions.
"Today, the law already gives this possibility to local communities, but only on an experimental basis and for three years, which is too short in view of the investments to be made. This must be remedied," Elisabeth Borne explained to Les Échos in January.
"It will be the local elected officials who will decide", confirmed François de Rugy on BFMTV this Thursday morning.
The measure intends to give local players the means to reduce congestion, increase the use of public transport and fight against pollution. First opposed to this idea, fearing an effect of segregation between Ile-de-France residents, Anne Hidalgo no longer said no to an urban toll in Paris, according to Les Échos. On two conditions: the establishment of compensations (reduction of the price during off-peak hours, financing of free public transport), and that there is consensus at the level of Grand Paris.
The president of the Île-de-France region (and Île-de-France Mobilités) said she was "resolutely against". 'This would cut the region in two by increasing the social and territorial divide. On the one hand, there would be the wealthiest Parisians and metropolitan residents. And then the others, especially the most disadvantaged Ile-de-France residents. They are already discriminated against because they often have old vehicles and do not have the correct Crit'Air sticker to travel in Paris. This toll would strengthen their feeling of exclusion, "she said in the columns of Le Parisien.