When does it start?

May 1st is a national holiday in France, and many of the city employees needed to operate the event will be off work. That's why the first measure will start on May 8th. Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo has made the environment a priority since assuming the office in 2014, backing ambitious plans to create more pedestrian zones and ban diesel cars in Paris by 2020.

But this is just a temporary measure with temporary effects!

Paris and other European cities have seen smog levels spike to dangerous levels in recent years, forcing some to implement temporary car bans. Officials in Milan banned private cars from city streets for a few hours a day last year, while Oslo plans to permanently ban motorists from the city center by 2019.

There is evidence to suggest that these efforts have a short-term effect on pollution levels. Airparif, the air quality monitoring agency for the Paris region, found that nitrogen oxide levels declined by between 20 and 40 percent during a no-car day.

The World Health Organization says fine-particle air pollution is responsible for an estimated 42,000 deaths in France each year. A report from the French Senate last year estimated that air pollution costs the country €100 billion ($112 billion) each year, largely due to health costs.

Explore Paris at your own pace with a 1, 2 ,or 3-day hop-on hop-off bus tour ticket

Discover Arc de Triomphe