€50 per day French Congestion Charge coming to La Tania & Courchevel for Winter 2020.

This was an April Fool!
Confirmation over the weekend that the planned Congestion Charges will come in to play from December 2019. In La Tania & Le Praz this is expected to be €50 a day / €300 a week for Class 1 vehicles (height less than 2 metres & total weight less than 3.5 tonnes). The charges will rise traveling up to 1550 & 1650 with charges in 1850 expected to be €100 a day / €600 a week.

Free parking and a continual 24/7 bus service will be provided from Bozel using driverless, electric vehicles similar to the shuttles that started running in Val Thorens this Winter pictured below. These will be fitted with snow ploughs during bad weather to aid road clearance although French Unions are in dispute regarding safety issues and a threat to members jobs.

All car parks in the resorts will be free of charge including the new underground multi-story car park in Le Praz opening in December 2019 (part of the Alpinium Building – more details here).

A congestion disc (which will look similar to the CRIT’ Air discs required in certain French cities) will be available to purchase on-line from 1st September 2019. How hire cars from airports will get discs is still unclear.

The Pay-As-You-Go payment system will utilise Number Plate Recoginition technology similar to the Dartford Crossings rather than Transponder Tags as used on the Autoroutes – pity you couldn’t use one system for both…

The aim of these measures is to reduce the huge amount of traffic entering the resorts, improve air quality, reduce road accidents and improve the sustainability image of Courchevel. In addition, all vehicles with a congestion charge disc must have Winter Tyres fitted – snow chains or snow socks are not a substitute – so traffic delays are kept to a minimum.

In La Tania season passes will be available for €875 for Class 1 vehicles and all mini buses, vans and pickups will be regarded as commercial vehicles and pay at least twice the private car charge depending on size / capacity. Camper Vans will not be entitled to season passes and must pay a daily charge.

Note that parking a car in La Tania (or a camping van) will require a charge each day (or week) even if it hasn’t been moved. A resolution for increased charges on Saturdays was not approved.

Pure battery electric vehicles (BEVs) will be exempt from all charges and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) will benefit from a 50% reduction in the charge. So that’s why a certain business man in La Tania has a Range Rover PHEV on order…