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Paris restricts traffic on new pollution episode

Xinhua, December 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

A new peak in air pollution forced Paris authorities to restrict tragic in French capital on Dec. 16, Paris authorities said on Thursday.

"Because of a new episode of air pollution ..., Paris city announces the implementation of alternating traffic measure and decides free residential parking for Friday...," the city authorities said in a statement.

On Dec. 16, only vehicles with license plates ended with even numbers will be allowed to circulate in the city center.

Local authorities also offered free public transport. They encouraged the use of clean modes of transport such as Velib and Autolib, which are public sharing services for bicycles and electric cars.

Over last weekend, Paris removed driving restrictions which has been imposed since Dec. 6 on expected improvement in air quality.

In order to curb deteriorating air quality, the French capital will launch next month a vignette system based on a color-coded sticker indicating the age and pollution level of cars to allow only clean vehicles to circulate.

Vehicles, heating systems and wood burning have caused smog spike, the country's worst and longest pollution in a decade. Endit