It’s a well-known fact that a combination of very hot weather and heavy traffic can increase local temperatures. Now a Geneva politician has a plan to bring relief from both heat and road congestion to Switzerland’s second-largest city.
Even in the best of times, bottlenecks are a frequent occurrence in Geneva, with motorists spending, on average, 141 hours sitting in traffic during peak hours.
This is according to the 2025 Traffic Index ranking by the GPS navigation company, TomTom.
Local deputy Julien Nicolet-dit-Félix argues that the heavy traffic increases the effects of heatwaves, and he has a plan to remedy this situation.
What is he proposing?
Nicolet-dit-Félix, who represents the Green Party in the cantonal Parliament, has submitted a motion proposing to alternate traffic in Geneva during heatwaves.
Concretely, his proposal is calling for vehicles with even-numbered license plates to circulate on even-numbered days, and those with odd-numbered plates to only be permitted on the road on odd-numbered days.
By halving traffic, the local population will “feel the benefits of a drop in ambient temperature,” he wrote in his proposal.
But that’s not all.
To give people without cars on a given day a way to get to and from work, Nicolet-dit-Félix wants public transport to be provided free of charge, in addition to free parking in the P+R car parks located farthest from the city centre.
The motion has not yet been debated, but it already faces opposition in the Parliament.
‘Absurd’
Murat Julian Alder, a deputy from the Liberal-Radical Party (FDP) has called his colleague’s idea “absurd.”
“Our priority should not be to inconvenience people who need their vehicles to get to work,” he said.
Adler is also critical of the proposal to provide free public transport to motorists who can’t drive on a given day.
“’Free tickets are never really free,” he pointed out. “Someone always ends up paying.”
Besides, Nicolet-dit-Félix’s idea is not that ground-breaking.
That’s because Geneva already has a differentiated traffic system in place, intended to combat air pollution – the StickAIR car sticker.
Introduced in 2020, it is meant to ban highly polluting vehicles from driving in the centre of the city in the event of a smog alert.
Coloured stickers must be affixed to each automobile’s windshield to indicate its environmental performance.
This system was last activated in August 2025 due to a dangerous combination of heatwave and pollution.
READ MORE: Why are some vehicles being banned from driving in Geneva?
