The strengthening of the Low Emission Zone (ZFE) should concern nearly a third of vehicles in the Aix-Marseille metropolis in September 2024, the majority in neighborhoods where low-income households are over-represented, according to a study presented Tuesday by BNP Paribas Mobility.
With the strengthening of the ZFE, which plans to drive out of the center of Marseille vehicles classified as Crit’Air 3 (petrol from 1997 to 2005, diesel from 2006 to 2010), 317,000 private vehicles circulating regularly in the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis could no longer have authorization to go there, detailed the authors of the study.
30% of vehicles currently in circulation in the metropolitan area will no longer be able to circulate from September 2024, said Christophe Michali, director of the mobility market at BNP Paribas Personal Finance France, during a press conference.
We have a hyper-concentration of these vehicles (…) in the north-west districts of Marseille, where there is an over-representation of low-income households, he added.
However, these poor neighborhoods of France’s second city are less well served in terms of public transport, continued Mr. Michali.
These low-income households have no other choice than to use their vehicle on a daily basis (…) it is not a luxury, it is imposed on them, he concluded.
The question is how we (…) put in place measures that allow us to cushion the social impact so that the change is perceived as positive for our collective health and not as socially unjust, stressed to the ‘AFP Sbastien Barles, deputy mayor of Marseille for the ecological transition who advocates, among other things, carpooling and car-sharing systems.
In the midst of a purchasing power crisis, ZFEs have become a symbol of the exclusion of the most modest motorists. Less polluting vehicles, hybrid and electric, remain expensive to buy new and rare on the second-hand market.
Even if, basically, people understand that to improve air quality something must be done, in the end they say: It’s going too quickly and has penalized low-income householdsthe director of the Cetelem Observatory, Flavien Neuvy, explained to AFP.
For Sébastien Barles, improving air quality should also concern the maritime sector, particularly Marseille, a port city where the presence of giant cruise ships is increasingly contested.
There needs to be a maritime ZFE, that’s obvious, suggested the elected official.