Anne Hidalgo Attacks Coach Services

The Paris City Hall organized a consultation on May 17th regarding the coach parking area in the Low Traffic Zone that the City plans to establish starting early 2024.

Beginning in 2024, tourist coaches should no longer be allowed to circulate in the center of Paris. This Low Traffic Zone (LTZ), cleverly named “Calm Zone” by the city hall, consists of the center of Paris (from the 1st to the 4th arrondissements) and the 5th, 6th, and 7th arrondissements north of Boulevard Saint-Germain. Access to the Louvre parking from the quays west seems to be exempt. Still, one wouldn’t want to miss out on the museum and the shops of the Carrousel… This LTZ would add to the restrictions of the Grand Paris Low Emission Zone (LEZ), which will gradually ban coaches based on their Crit’Air stickers.

While the ecological justification for phasing out diesel-powered public transportation cannot be contested, this project seems to make no distinction between diesel coaches and the alternative propulsion options that passenger transport companies are gradually investing in. Hybrid, electric, or natural gas-powered vehicles are undergoing a major transformation, often at significant expense for professionals. A sad recognition of their efforts by the Parisian authorities!

The FNTV (National Federation of Passenger Transportation) denounces an “coach-bashing,” highlighting the anti-ecological nature of this project and warning of a significant loss of benefits for the tourism economy. Coach transportation remains an inclusive collective mode that allows many groups of people to travel (children, seniors, tourists with luggage), especially when traditional urban transport options are not accessible. As long as the city hall refuses to seriously address issues such as wheelchair accessibility of the Paris metro or the saturation of certain bus routes driven with engines running all day, what can be done? It seems absurd to restrict access to other forms of collective transportation… even, and perhaps especially, if they are private!

In terms of timing, establishing this zone a few months before the opening of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games also suggests a “battlefield” for the many spectators wishing to attend the festivities in the city center.

At this rate, it wouldn’t be surprising if in the very near future, tourists choose other cities that are more practical in managing traffic flows.