AILSA CHANG, HOST:
The city of Paris is saying au revoir to cars. Over the past 20 years, it has restricted vehicle traffic, encouraging people to walk, bike or use public transport. In the beginning, many Parisians complained, but now a large majority embrace the transformation to a greener French capital. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports.
(SOUNDBITE OF BIKE BELL RINGING)
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: The traffic you have to watch out for these days in Paris is on two wheels, and that's unnerved some Parisians.
PHILIPPE SOUBRIER: My opinion is that there is too much bicycle in the city because everywhere on every side, it's very dangerous for me because they never stop at the red. You know what I mean?
BEARDSLEY: Sixty-seven-year-old Philippe Soubrier is a practicing doctor. The city's 750 miles of protected bike lanes have also shrunk the space for cars.
SOUBRIER: I have a car, but I can't use it. It takes very long times to go...
BEARDSLEY: Anywhere.
SOUBRIER: ...Anywhere.
BEARDSLEY: So he takes public transport or walks to work. That is exactly what Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo wants, says Carlos Moreno, an urban planner and former adviser to the city.
CARLOS MORENO: This is not a war against cars. This is a way for open the city to people. The banks of the Seine River, where the highway - this place was a foreigner place for cars. Now, we need to share the public space with pedestrians and bikers.
BEARDSLEY: Moreno says the policy is also about creating a livable city where schools, shops and work are within 15 minutes for Parisians. Visitors, too, have noticed how the city's changed, like songwriter Bill Hames.
BILL HAMES: I've been to Paris at least 20 different times over the years.
BEARDSLEY: But he skipped the last six years due to COVID. Hames finally returned this summer. He says Paris was transformed, especially by the drastic reduction in car traffic.
HAMES: For me as a visitor, it changed my whole experience of walking around downtown. It made being in central Paris much more pleasant. It was quieter, more spacious, more open.
BEARDSLEY: Pollution is way down. Fine particulate matter has decreased 55% since 2005, while nitrogen dioxide levels have fallen 50%, this according to Airparif, an air quality monitoring organization for France's capital region. Carlos Moreno.
MORENO: The air quality in Paris was totally transforming.
BEARDSLEY: Moreno says digital pollution maps of the city used to pulse red. Now they're a cool green with only a few fine red lines representing the busiest roads in and around the capital. With heat waves increasing in frequency, the city is also planting permanent, mini urban forests.
So I am in front of the Paris city hall. It's the Hotel de Ville, and this place had a huge esplanade of just concrete or stone before - very hot. But now it's like a little forest with actually grown, developed trees. How did they do this?
(Speaking French).
JEROME LECONTE: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: Parisian Jerome Leconte is walking by. He says he was a skeptic of the mayor's policies for a long time, but today he's gushing.
LECONTE: (Through interpreter) It's magnificent. It's surprising. It's a lungful of fresh air in the center of Paris, and we need this. It's great for the eyes, and it's oxygen.
BEARDSLEY: Leconte admits Parisians complained bitterly, especially when the Seine riverside was closed to cars. But now he says the banks are full of joggers, strollers and even people dancing and singing.
LECONTE: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: "Even we native Parisians are rediscovering the beauty of our city every day," he says.
LECONTE: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: "Bravo, Paris."
Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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