Sunday February 4, Parisian voters are asked to vote on the creation of a specific parking rate for sport utility vehicles (SUV), with a tripling of the price. These “city 4 × 4s”, heavy and bulky but considered spacious and safe by their drivers, are today the best-selling vehicles in Europe.
” Security “, “sharing public space”, ” pollution “…the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, campaigned for the introduction of this new tariff intended to keep SUVs away from the capital. A not entirely new idea since the ecological municipality of Lyon announced on January 30 that it would adopt from June – but without prior citizen consultation – a new progressive pricing for parking to encourage lighter and less polluting vehicles.
Conditions of the vote in Paris, vehicles concerned, arguments… Les Décoders take a look at the issue before the vote.
What is the vote about?
The title of the question that will be asked of Parisians is not entirely neutral: “For or against the creation of a specific rate for the parking of heavy, bulky, polluting individual cars? »
The pricing proposed by Paris City Hall would result in a tripling of parking rates for certain heavy vehicles. All thermal or plug-in hybrid vehicles weighing more than 1.6 tonnes and electric vehicles weighing more than 2 tonnes will be covered.
Who can vote?
This vote, like that on scooters in April 2023, is used by the City to support its policy through potential support at the polls. All residents of Paris registered on the electoral lists of the capital can participate.
As during the last citizen consultation, the vote will be exclusively physical, organized in 222 polling stations in the capital and it will not be possible to use proxies. During the vote against maintaining self-service scooters last year, 103,000 people spoke, or a little less than 7.5% of registered voters.
Which SUVs will be affected?
If the municipality speaks of a “SUV rate”these models would in fact not be the only ones to be overtaxed. “Very large sedans will also be affected”confirms the town hall.
Conversely, the lightest SUVs would escape the increase in parking. Among the best-selling SUVs in France last year, the Peugeot 2008, the Renault Captur and the Dacia Duster do not exceed 1.4 tonnes and their owners will be able to continue to benefit from the usual prices. In a report published in 2020the WWF association estimated that the best-selling SUVs weighed an average of 1,352 kg.
According to data from AAA Data, a company specializing in automotive data, around 16% of vehicles in Ile-de-France would be affected by the increase in pricing for large models if they parked in the capital. .
A figure higher than the estimate of the mobility assistant at Paris town hall, David Belliard, who declared in December 2023 that thermal and hybrid cars weighing more than 1.6 tonnes represented “about 10% of the park”. Which would correspond to around 7,000 vehicles out of the 70,000 parking tickets generated each day in the capital.
This criterion of 1.6 tonnes is the one used for the “mass penalty” introduced by the government in 2022. Originally, this tax applied from the first kilogram above 1.8 tonnes of the “mass in running order”, or empty weight (including vehicle, fuel and basic equipment, but without driver or luggage). She was hardened since 1er January 2024 at the threshold of 1.6 tonnes.
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Benefit
This tax remains less ambitious than the recommendation of 1.4 tonnes formulated by the Citizens’ Climate Convention in 2021. Above all, there is a series of exemptions for large families and electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Residents, professionals, who will be exempt from the surcharge?
“In the event of a “yes” victory on this question, Parisian residents and professionals will not be affected”, said the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo. In fact, only the 95,000 Parisians holding a preferential “resident” rate parking pass will be able to avoid this price increase, if it is applied. Above all, this card only covers a restricted area around their main residence: in the rest of Paris, they will have to pay the visitor rate.
As for vans weighing less than 3.5 tonnes, if they are registered as a professional vehicle, they will not be affected by the surcharge. A “personal” van, on the other hand, will be subject to the same treatment as an SUV or any automobile.
Disabled people who have proof are also exempt and free parking is also maintained for all vehicles during the night and on Sundays.
What is the profile of SUV drivers?
According to the latest data published by the AAA Data companyin June 2023, based on new car registrations, the typical profile of the SUV buyer is very marked: 8 out of 10 buyers are urban, 88% are well-off (more than 40,000 euros annual income) or very well off and 7 out of 10 are men.
Low-income households are gradually disappearing from the list of SUV buyers; they were 7% in 2019, 2% in 2022 and only 1% in the first months of 2023. The increase in parking prices in Paris would therefore affect the richest households.
What’s the problem with SUVs?
The Paris town hall criticizes these vehicles for being polluting and bulky. They also ask questions about road safety.
– The question of CO emissions2
According to a Greenpeace report from November 2023high emissions from SUVs (from the Toyota, Volkswagen and Hyundai-Kia brands, the three largest) cancel out the progress made by reducing emissions and producing electric cars over ten years.
The High Council for the Climate described SUVs as“incompatible with the ecological transition” in 2021. They emit 10% to 20% more greenhouse gases than a conventional car, calculated the WWF. In 2022, SUVs alone were responsible for a billion tonnes of CO emissions2 in the world, according to the International Energy Agency.
– The occupation of public space
The car accounts for 11% of trips within Paris; but between parking lots and traffic lanes, it occupies a much greater share of public space – 50% of public space, it was calculated The world in 2016.
And new vehicles, especially SUVs, are only making the problem worse, as they widen an average of one centimeter every two years, according to theNGO Transport & Environment (T&E). Their study concludes that 52% of the hundred best-selling SUVs in 2023 measure more than 180 centimeters wide, and that certain models (BMW X5, X6, X7, Audi Q8, Porsche Cayenne) are around 200 centimeters. However, the standard for parking spaces is set at 230 centimeters: These SUVs do not leave enough room for their occupants, or their parking neighbor, to enter or exit their vehicles.
– Road safety
The safety of SUVs, praised by manufacturers, only applies to their occupants, to the detriment of other road users. According to statistics from the insurer AXA, these big cars cause 25% more accidentsoften serious due to their large mass.
A Norwegian study from 2017 highlights a link between the weight of certain cars and the severity of injuries in an accident. The researchers estimate that “the risk of being killed or seriously injured is at least 50% higher for pedestrians and cyclists struck by an SUV than for pedestrians and cyclists struck by a passenger car”. One of the dangers comes from the height of the hood: a pedestrian hit head-on tends to pass over a “classic” car but under the wheels of an SUV.
