For several months, the deployment of the low emission zone (ZFE) has made Toulouse cringe. Since January 1, owners of cars with a Crit’Air sticker 4, 5 and unclassifiedin short, diesels put into service before 2006 and petrol registered before 1995, are no longer authorized to drive on most of the territory of the Pink City.
And from next year, this ban will be extended to Crit’Air 3. What raise strong criticism when we know that it is often the most modest motorists who are affected by this measure, since it is them who have the oldest cars, not necessarily the most polluting moreover.
Already 2,500 “little riders” passes issued
To help them acquire a “cleaner” vehicle or a bicycle, conversion bonuses have been set up by the State and Toulouse Métropole. They have so far concerned owners of Crit’Air 4, 5 and unclassified cars and vans. At the end of last year, nearly 500 car bonuses and 4,000 bicycle bonuses had been awarded by the metropolis.
And since the introduction of the “small rollers pass” at the end of January, a device allowing circulation 52 days a year within the ZFE regardless of the Crit’Air sticker, 2,500 people have been able to benefit from it.
Premium for motorcyclists and car-sharing assistance
This Thursday, during the Toulouse Métropole council, other measures will be adopted to extend aid to those affected by the restrictions of the low emission zone. “Aids, modeled on those of motorists, will now be accessible to motorcyclists. We are also going to set up a bonus for car sharing, it is a way of giving a boost to households so that they give up their second vehicle. It will take the form of a credit of 500 euros on car-sharing costs that we will allocate through the three associations listed by Tisséo”, explains François Chollet, the vice-president of Toulouse Métropole in charge of energy transition.
And within two months, owners of Crit’Air 3 vehicles, banned from driving as of next January, should also be eligible for the “clean vehicle” bonus. Because for the time being, unlike the Metropolis of Lyon which has just announced a postponement from 2026 to 2028 for the ban on circulation in the ZFE for Crit’Air 2 diesels, in Toulouse the calendar should be maintained. “It’s complicated to go back because that would mean canceling an order and starting the whole procedure over from the beginning. This means stopping the ZFE. If there is an adaptation of the Crit’Air vignettes to be made, this must be a decision taken at the national level”, argues François Chollet, indicating that these reflections are part of those which will be discussed within the “mission on the ZFE” entrusted to the mayor of Toulouse.