At the start of 2025, the roadway will finally remain open to Crit’Air 3 vehicles in the center of Marseille. “I have decided not to implement Crit’Air 3, which was to come into force on January 1, 2025 in Marseille,” announced, Sunday February 4, the president of the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis, Martine Vassal (various right), in an interview with La Tribune Dimanche. “I’m postponing it indefinitely. You need time, you need to be more tolerant,” she explains.
“Not everyone has the opportunity to equip themselves with an electric vehicle in such a short time,” adds Ms. Vassal, recalling that her community has just announced the establishment of aid of 5,000 euros for the purchase of an electric vehicle for residents and traders, subject to resource conditions.
A low emissions zone (ZFE) was set up in the center of Marseille in 2022, first excluding the most polluting vehicles (Crit’Air 5) then the Crit’Air 4.
The most modest households affected
The elected official, opponent of the various left-wing mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan, also says she is “absolutely against” the surcharge on SUV parking, an idea validated in Lyon and put to a vote on Sunday in Paris.
Marseille is the poorest large city in France and it is trying to make up for historic delays in its public transport network via the Marseille en grand plan launched by Emmanuel Macron. In December, a study highlighted that the poorest households would be very affected by the extension of the ZFE to Crit’Air 3 vehicles (petrol from 1997 to 2005, diesel from 2006 to 2010).
To date, eleven metropolises have started deploying EPZs, each with their own timetable. Their creations result from the mobility orientation law (LOM) of 2019. A generalization in France of these zones is provided for by law by 2025 in the 43 urban areas with more than 150,000 inhabitants.