Three-month ‘educational phase’ begins for scheme it is hoped will reduce through-traffic and improve air quality

Paris authorities have begun limiting traffic in a large zone of the city centre, with police alerting drivers that they are now banned from driving through the French capital’s central four arrondissements and risk a fine if they do so after next spring.

The so-called “limited traffic zone” (ZTL), home to about 100,000 people and 11,000 businesses, is part of a broader push by the socialist mayor, Anne Hidalgo, to restrict traffic and encourage cycling and public transport use across the car-clogged city.