Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo set an audacious new benchmark in her ongoing campaign to reduce car use across the French capital: a ban on most vehicle traffic crossing the city center in 2022. The plan would stop through traffic from a large zone covering Paris’ core, to cut pollution and noise and free up more space for trees, cycle lanes and pedestrian areas. A public consultation for the plan launched this week. The new zone would not ban cars altogether: It would still permit motorized access to the zone’s residents (including short-term hotel guests), to people with disabilities, and to vehicles used for public transit, deliveries or services. The new rules would nonetheless make it illegal to drive […]