Mayor of Paris

[Bren]

The mayor of Paris wants diesel cars banned from the centre of Paris by 2020.

To be honest I am surprised it will take that long, I think lots of other people have realised about the pollution - some of the most carcinogenic substances known to man are in diesel fumes.

 

I think the cost of the stuff, the complexity of a modern diesel and the pollution issues means that the days of diesel engines in their current form are coming to an end.

 

Discuss.

[tooSavvy]

... ahh...she prefers to reminisce the waft of Aerogasoline, emitted by Brit/USAF bombers flying over on the way to rid her* [ahem...] city of the Bosch.

 

WHS

 

TS

 

* correction for gallic gender preconception

[Parky]

She Savvy, she....

 

Personally I think she is pissed off with the number of problems she has had with runaway Renault diesel engines. "Ah nevair 'ad zeez problems wiz mah deux zero cinq diesel en le nineties"

 

She might have said that. Either that or Renault are doing nothing but electric from 2020 and need to make sure they have a market......

[warren t claim]

There's plenty of development left in the Diesel engine, unlike petrol which has gone about as far as it can go. Petrol engines are always going to be limited by how much you can squeeze on the compression stroke before it goes bang.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Job done I'd say. Whatever the pros and cons may be, once the mindless bureaucrats of Euroland start to obsess nothing will stop them.

[RedSparrow]

Paris smells of dog shit.

[saucedoctor]

I don't believe a word of any of it. Gordon Brown already saved the world, so we're OK.

[Lord Sterling]

It'll take them that long due to the lengths of thier afternoon breaks, which usually lasts until they go home, otherwise it would take half the time.

[Cavcraft]

They'll succeed and many other places/countries will follow suit. That, as if it needed it, will be the exact moment the high street dies after been hung by rents, drawn by the internet and quartered by dickhead councils and mayors.

[dollywobbler]

They should have stuck with 2CVs and Renner 4s.

[saucedoctor]

What The Griffin Botherer said. My own town has been fucked up the ass by dickhead councillors, barmy decisions from Stormont and lack of car parking. It also took them 3 years to pedestrianise the main street, which is only about the size of an 18 yard box. And we have the Parking Wombles who'll slap a ticket on your car if you're a nanosecond over your ticket time, or not parked straight. I actually got one slapped on my S Type because the arse of it was sticking out of the too-small space.

 

Shoppers can't be arsed, and go to the big retail park at Newtownabbey instead.

 

[vulgalour]

Surely they'd be better banning all cars from Paris and turning the Arc de Triomphe into the world's largest Horse Tornado** instead?

 

On a slightly more serious note, I'd much rather see polluting vehicles of all types removed from city centres, the concentration of pollutants in such a small area is no good for anyone regardless of the type of fuel being burnt.  Park and Ride electric systems would make sense within city limits, though the Park and Ride carparks become a Pick & Mix for car thiefs.

 

 

 

**aka, carousel, gallopers, that spinny thing with the gaudy horses skewered to it

[forddeliveryboy]

Nobody thinks of sound pollution. The sound of the diesel car in cities is particularly nasty. People underestimate how tiring low frequency noises are, most inline four diesels are particularly unpleasant and gruff.

 

Paris must have sounded much more pleasant with whirring 2cvs and Panhards echoing around their streets. i wonder if this sort of legislation will help bring the electric car to the masses. 

 

 

or in correct aspic wide screen, La_circulation_Paris_dans_les_ann_es_60.avi

[Taff]

Paris is a lovely city. The sooner they ban diesels the better

 

please note, the above is two statements which UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should be taken in conjunction with one another

[STUNO]

I love living in a town that has realised that by car is the chosen way for the vast majority to to go shopping. Plenty of parking at all times at NO cost, no parking wardens because no need to shoo people away. there is a 2 hour parking time posted which is of course only there for legal reasons just in case  and because of all that there is no need to run a bus service. The people who NEED to use the bus can get a subsidised taxi ride instead, which must add up to a saving (or a not spending!) of millions. Also because there is plenty of room for cars, the cyclists are automatically catered for too.

[warren t claim]

If happily ban those big polluting 60 seater MPVs from our city centres, the ones that only seem to have three people on board.

[STUNO]

And to add . Our govt is replaclng the BMW 7 series diesels they use for the P.M. and Ministers, now this has surfaced what will they buy, as politicians will do anything to save the environment.

[New POD]

There's plenty of development left in the Diesel engine, unlike petrol which has gone about as far as it can go. Petrol engines are always going to be limited by how much you can squeeze on the compression stroke before it goes bang.

 

nah. Ford's 3 cylinder turbo'd 1 litre ecotech is JUST the beginning. Future advances will include making the Turbo a Variable nozzle, (only survives on diesel as exhaust gas is 200 deg C less), or using the petrol engine, to generate electric power for a continuously variable electrical motor, but tuning the petrol engine to operate in a VERY narrow but efficient power band, dispensing with the need for gear changing (reverse will just be the motor with power applied in the opposite direction, so a CHEAP switch on the dash.

[Junkman]

I think the Mayor of Paris is French.

[PhilA]

City centres have standard routes.. I know because the buses usually take them.

 

So why did most cities tear out the electric tram systems they had? (Apart from the whole overhead wiring thing, which isn't horribly unsightly).

 

Trams work, fit a lot of people and send the pollution elsewhere (power station). I'm sure the decibel level of the wheels on the points is less than the diesel rattle of most buses.

 

And yes, trams can climb hills. Else San Fransisco is a lie.

 

--Phil

[catsinthewelder]

Trams were replaced by Trolley buses and then Diesel buses as each were 'new' and 'more car like'.  Now that the public perception of buses is rattley old things that smell of piss then they want to use trams instead.

 

Trolley buses should make a comeback,  especially the type with battery backup that can divert off their route a bit if required.

[tooSavvy]

And yes, trams can climb hills. Else San Fransisco is a lie.

 

--Phil

 

errrr.... connected to an 'under road' cable.... methinks >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_cable_car_system

 

hence: 'cable car'

 

 

TS

[tooSavvy]

Trams were replaced by Trolley buses and then Diesel buses as each were 'new' and 'more car like'.  Now that the public perception of buses is rattley old things that smell of piss then they want to use trams instead.

 

Trolley buses should make a comeback,  especially the type with battery backup that can divert off their route a bit if required.

 

South Shields (...born & raised   ) had TBs when I was a little unn..... From Memory >>> HuMmmmmm > Clakk > hummmmmmmmm

 

two 'speeds' on the motor... totally comfortable and (afaik) never dropped a wire/marooned....

 

 

TS

[PhilA]

errrr.... connected to an 'under road' cable.... methinks >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_cable_car_system

 

hence: 'cable car'

 

 

TS

Yes, but it is possible

 

Nomenclature/technology aside.

 

--Phil

[MarvinsMom]

I always thought that trolley buses were a good idea, all the benefits of a tram but without the hassle of railway lines.

 

TBH the indecent haste that tram systems and trolley lines were abandoned in this country after the war never made any sense to me. Getting rid of a clean (well no pollution at source, the electric station is another thing) mass transit system and replace it with diesel buses just seems like madness.

 

Given my age, I've only ever been able to ride a tram at Beamish, and i missed out on the trolleys of Teesside Railless Traction Board by a couple of years. There is a preserved trolley at Kirkleatham Museum, but i've not been able to see it as its been locked away in its shed.

 

[John F]

tooSavvy, on 08 Dec 2014 - 8:41 PM, said:

South Shields (...born & raised   ) had TBs when I was a little unn..... From Memory >>> HuMmmmmm > Clakk > hummmmmmmmm

 

two 'speeds' on the motor... totally comfortable and (afaik) never dropped a wire/marooned....

 

 

TS

 

Little-known fact: the "HuMmmmmm > Clakk > hummmmmmmmm" noise in the post above was actually electric switches inside Savvy's head shunting his brain from one train of thought to another in mid-sentence. The second sentence is actually about an electric knitting machine.