Lyon, France · Low emission zone
Official name Zone à Faibles Émissions mobilité (ZFE-m) de la Métropole de Lyon
In force in Lyon right nowTuesday, 13 October 2026 at 11:03 · Europe/Paris
The zone is always on; whether it reaches you depends on the vehicle's Crit'Air class, which this timetable does not check. A Crit'Air 0, 1 or 2 vehicle is unaffected at every hour.
Unlike Paris, Lyon states no night, weekend or public-holiday exemption for light vehicles, so the timetable says the scheme is permanently in force rather than borrowing the capital's 08:00–20:00 window. Two French cities, one national sticker system, two different answers — do not carry one across to the other.
Operating times only, read from the source below. It does not check your vehicle.
Lyon bans, it does not charge. Since 1 January 2025 a Crit'Air 5, 4, 3 or unclassified vehicle may neither drive nor park inside the zone, which in plain terms means a diesel car first registered before 1 January 2011 and a petrol car before 1 January 2006. It runs 24 hours a day, every day.
Read the national news carefully before you assume this has gone away: an article abolishing France's low emission zones was passed by the Assemblée Nationale, the Sénat and the joint committee, and then struck down by the Conseil constitutionnel on 21 May 2026 before it could be promulgated. The Métropole says so on its own site — the Lyon scheme is still in force.
There is no daily charge, and that is the scheme's design rather than a gap in ours. Lyon's ZFE prohibits: a restricted vehicle is not permitted to enter at a price, it is not permitted to enter at all, and parking inside the zone is prohibited on the same terms.
The only money involved is the Crit'Air sticker itself — 3,85 € per vehicle including postage at the tariff the Métropole shows as in force on 01/01/2025 — which is a one-off for the vehicle, not a payment per entry, so it is recorded under how_to_comply. The number a driver risks here is the fine, not a fee.
Around the clock: the restriction applies 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, and it covers parking as well as driving. There is no night window, no weekend relief and no public-holiday exemption — a restricted vehicle left parked inside the zone is in breach even if it never moves.
The whole of Lyon and Caluire-et-Cuire, plus the parts of Villeurbanne, Bron and Vénissieux that lie inside the boulevard périphérique Laurent Bonnevay. Since 1 January 2024 the major through-roads are inside the zone too: the M6 and M7, the boulevard périphérique Nord Lyon (BPNL) and the boulevard périphérique Laurent Bonnevay itself.
That last point is the one to carry away, because it runs the other way from Birmingham and Edinburgh: there the ring road and the boundary road are outside the scheme and can be driven by anyone, and in Lyon the ring roads are part of it. A restricted vehicle cannot use the périphérique to pass Lyon.
A petrol car first registered before 1 January 2006 is banned, because it is Crit'Air 3 or worse. Crit'Air 2 covers petrol and hybrid cars from 2006 to 2010 and is still allowed; Crit'Air 1 covers petrol cars from 1 January 2011 onwards. For motorcycles and other powered two-wheelers the line falls elsewhere — those first registered between 2004 and 2006 are Crit'Air 3 and are banned.
A diesel car first registered before 1 January 2011 is banned, because it is Crit'Air 3 or worse — the step that took effect on 1 January 2025 caught diesel cars first registered between 2006 and 2010. A diesel car from 1 January 2011 onwards is Crit'Air 2 and may still enter.
Heavy goods vehicles and light commercial vehicles of category N reached this point earlier: Crit'Air 3, 4, 5 and unclassified were already excluded before the 2025 step.
Next scheduled re-check: 2026-12-11.
This is owed on the country's roads, not inside this scheme. What France asks, with the source