Paris mayor says individual car ownership era is over

In her mid-term speech, Anne Hidalgo - the first female mayor of Paris, who was elected in 2014 - explained her views on individual car ownership in the capital, in light of the city’s wish to have no petrol or diesel cars in circulation by 2030.

Hidalgo said that already that just one in 10 Parisians uses a car to go to work, and innovations could see petrol car use reduce even more ahead of 2030.

“Owning one’s own individual car, just for you, is something from the ‘Glorious 30s’ era, and is no longer the pattern today,” she explained, as reported in French newspaper Le Monde.

“We may see no petrol or diesel cars in Paris earlier than 2030,” she continued, “Because the behaviour [of people] as well as innovations in [car] building will all be there already [ahead of the date].”

The car plan for Paris forms part of the city’s pledge to be carbon-neutral and use 100% renewable energy by 2050, and also comes in response to its growing levels of pollution.

“We have never seen so many days on which we cross the pollution threshold,” Hidalgo said. “We have a duty to act quickly, even if it’s difficult. It’s not about ‘banning’ or ‘not banning’ - that makes no sense. Today, we’re focused on imposing a pollution ‘limit’.”

The mairie has since stressed that it wants petrol and diesel cars to disappear from the streets by 2030 because of all the cleaner, subsidised alternatives that will be available, not because it has plans for laws against them.