Paris imposes car-sharing lane on congested ring road

TDT | Manama

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Paris on Monday began limiting one lane of its notoriously busy ring road to car sharing during rush hours, the latest move by the French capital to ease congestion and pollution on one of Europe's most traffic-clogged thoroughfares.

The car-sharing lane was used during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris and the plan is championed by the Socialist-led city hall but criticised on the right.

The peripherique ring road, known throughout Paris with a mixture of dread and familiarity as the "periph", is now reserving its leftmost traffic lane -- its fastest -- during rush hour for vehicles carrying "at least two passengers".

This excludes heavy goods vehicles but includes all public transport, taxis, emergency vehicles and people with reduced mobility.

In October, city authorities reduced the speed limit throughout the ring road to 50 km/h (30 mph) from 70 km/h (44 mph).

"We want to reduce the number of cars on the road by optimising their passenger rate in order to reduce noise and air pollution," David Belliard, deputy mayor in charge of transport, told AFP, emphasising that 80 percent of ring road users are solo drivers.

"The ring road is the busiest urban motorway in Europe and it is a real health scandal. The half a million inhabitants who live on either side of this urban motorway are exposed to levels of pollution that are still far too high, with 30 percent more asthma among children," added Dan Lert, the deputy mayor in charge of environmental issues.

The lane is signalled by white diamond signs on a blue background that are lit from Monday to Friday from 7:00 am to 10:30 am and from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Police headquarters can deactivate it in case of major traffic jams.