There's still a lot of cars driving in Paris. And motor scooters.
Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic
11–20 of 595 posts
Re: Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic
#12Worth noting that 50-60% of passenger cars in France are diesel, but Paris have been gradually banning older higher emission diesels (Crit’air 3, 4, 5) from Paris. Banning cars outright also works, of course, but I suspect a lot of the reduction can be attributed to getting particularly bad diesel cars out vs. the limited areas where cars are entirely restricted.
Re: Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic
#13How much of this has to do with the policies highlighted - removing 50k parking spots, adding bike lanes and green spaces - and how much has to do with cars having better exhaust? How much less cars are on the road today vs then? The charts and title make it look like there's no cars in Paris anymore. That's not the case, at all.
Given that tires produce a lot of particulate matter, even EV's contribute to pollution significantly.
Re: Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic
#14It makes sense now why they burn cars every protest (besides being fun). Pollution for a day, clean air for a lifetime
Re: Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic
#15it’s always shocked me how diesel reliant Europe is, smells absolutely terrible coming from the states
Re: Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic
#16Worth noting that 50-60% of passenger cars in France are diesel, but Paris have been gradually banning older higher emission diesels (Crit’air 3, 4, 5) from Paris. Banning cars outright also works, of course, but I suspect a lot of the reduction can be attributed to getting particularly bad diesel cars out vs. the limited areas where cars are entirely restricted.
Also worth noting that with modern emissions standards (and transition to EVs), over 50% of handful particulates come from tires, brakes, road surface wear, and resuspended dust:
https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/non-exhaust-particulate...
I don't think there's any healthy level of private cars coexisting with humans in a city, without even considering the more immediate harms from crashes, etc.
Re: Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic
#17"Ban all the cars" does have noticeable effects. I wonder if something less all / none might have nearly the same effects with far less drawbacks otherwise. E.G. What if only emissions testing certified low emission vehicles were allowed? What if only electric? How about requiring quiet utility trucks for garbage / freight / etc? For cities that large / dense, adding in Caves of Steel like people-mover belts might be…
> What if only electric?
Then the streets would still be unsafe and congested, just with a bit less pollution.
Re: Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic
#18"Ban all the cars" does have noticeable effects. I wonder if something less all / none might have nearly the same effects with far less drawbacks otherwise. E.G. What if only emissions testing certified low emission vehicles were allowed? What if only electric? How about requiring quiet utility trucks for garbage / freight / etc? For cities that large / dense, adding in Caves of Steel like people-mover belts might be…
With modern emissions standards, more than 50% of the harmful pollution comes from tires/brakes/road surface wear/resuspended dust:
https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/non-exhaust-particulate...
Moving away from privately owned cars entirely seems to be the only way to eliminate the health impact of cars on people in a city.
Re: Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic
#19Barely even mentions the noise. Cities aren't loud but cars are. Paris 2025 vs 1995 soundscapes very different.
I believe https://carto.bruitparif.fr/ represents 2022 levels, but my French is very rusty and I suspect that historical data review is more readily available to a speaker of it. Perhaps that site has lockdown data as a layer somewhere?
Yep, it says this is a map of noise levels, representing the Lden noise indicator over a full day
Re: Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic
#20it’s always shocked me how diesel reliant Europe is, smells absolutely terrible coming from the states
Way cheaper than gasoline, that is why.