Dawn of a slow era for drivers in Paris

QUEUCHE (Paris) • Drivers in Paris faced longer trips on Monday as a lower speed limit of 30 kmh came into effect for most of the French capital's streets, part of Mayor Anne Hidalgo's pledge to reduce traffic and pollution.

While the measure has been praised by environmental groups and many Paris residents, critics accuse the leftwing Ms Hidalgo, who is weighing a bid for the presidency, of penalising millions of people who drive into the city each day for work.

Nearly two-thirds of Paris' roads were already limited to 30kmh, mostly along narrow streets or those near schools, in line with the maximum imposed in other large cities such as Lille or Nantes.

Now only a handful of major thoroughfares, including the iconic Champs-Elysees boulevard, will let people cruise at 50kmh.

The Paris ring road or "Peripherique", one of Europe's most heavily used with some 1.1 million users each day, will remain at 70kmh, though Ms Hidalgo has said she wants to reduce lane numbers to make more room for bikes and pedestrians.

Taxi and delivery drivers in particular have assailed the lower speeds as impractical and unnecessary.

For Mr Fabrice Bosc, a glass fitter who relies on his delivery van, the new limits will only create bigger traffic jams in the capital.

"We already have enough trouble working with the 50kmh limit, at 30kmh things are just going to get more complicated," said the 55-year-old Mr Bosc.

The move comes as Ms Hidalgo also pushes ahead with the removal of 60,000 of the city's roughly 140,000 street-level parking spaces.

City officials say they are responding to tougher pollution rules and a broad public consensus on the need to encourage public transport and other alternatives such as bikes or electric scooters.

An opinion poll commissioned by City Hall late last year found that 59 per cent of Parisians approved of the lower speed limits - though it was supported by just 36 per cent of people living in the suburbs.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE