Crit'Air

[Neil178]

It’s a French thing. In many places. Old bikes not welcome.
I know Birmingham has recently introduced emission restrictions which is of no consequence to me as I avoid the city centre. But France seems to be going crazy on such matters, many cities and more to come.
All being well next summer I’m planning my summer hols on the bike touring and it could include a rock concert in Paris. Looks like the old tractor gets a Crit'Air 4 rating which means no driving between 8am and 8pm during the week. Which is when the concert is. Drat.
Whereas a nice shiny R1250RS would get me a top of the tree Crit'Air 1. Unrestricted mostly.
I was hoping that as I get older that life would become easier. More fool me, it seems that won’t be the case. Tant pis!
Anyone know if the rest of Europe is close behind the French?

[Paul]

There's a good description of each European clean air requirements at this link. It looks like more and more countries are creating low emission zones and permits to drive in them. The cost of a Crit air sticker, which lasts for the life of the vehicle, is a damned site cheaper than wandering once into the London congestion zone.

I also downloaded an app called "Green-Zones" on my iPhone, which shows a map of Europe highlighting areas with emissions zones. I put in details of my Crit sticker and it shows me where I can drive in France and when. That also works with other countries sticker/permits too.

Last time I was in France in 2019, proudly displaying my Crit Air 1 sticker on the windscreen of my 1250 GS, I was surprised to see how few vehicles over there seemed to be displaying one. That might all have changed since then tho'. For a modest 3 euro outlay, it saves you the risk of getting a fine, but doesn't solve the problem of getting to your concert. Could you fit a Brompton folding bike into one of your panniers?

Cheers,

Paul