Paris experiments with 'car-free day' across historic centre Parisians were encouraged to roller-blade, bike or stroll through the City of Light on Sunday for a "car-free" day intended to leave the streets vacant for slower, clean forms of transport. Sunday marks the third time the French capital has experimented with a car ban, but it is by far the most ambitious with the zone set aside for pedestrians or cyclists covering the entire historic heart of the city.