Owners of motorized two-wheelers cannot digest the new parking policy implemented in Paris and some say they are ready to “brave the ban”… Or to buy an electric vehicle.
The end of a graceful era. Thermal motorized two-wheelers have had to pay since Thursday to park in the streets of Paris, a measure that irritates the community of users, “ready to defy the ban”.
“At some point you have to know how to say no and stray a little from the path”, slips to AFP a young biker, Dominique Gavaud, who had to park Thursday morning on a bicycle site.
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“It’s complicated to find places, I don’t really have a choice. If I have a fine, I’ll pay it. For lack of anything better, I brave the limits of the ban a little”, continues this alternating designer , living in the suburbs of Paris.
Two companies have been commissioned by the city of Paris to track down offenders. These service providers must carry out 2,000 checks per day, specified the town hall, which will communicate within ten to fifteen days on the number of verbalizations.
The fine for non-payment of parking is 25 euros or 37.50 euros depending on the zone. Inconvenient or dangerous parking is punishable by a fine of 135 euros.
To park your motorized two-wheeler (PTW) in the streets of Paris, you have to pay a fee if it is a thermal vehicle. In the center of the capital, parking costs 3 euros per hour compared to 2 euros in the outer districts.
“At the end of the day, it must go crazy! I’ll try once or twice not to pay, we’ll see how lively they are! If they’re too lively, we’ll adapt,” says with a smile Nicolas (who does not wish to give his name), a photographer/videographer living in the suburbs and who moves around Paris for his work with his scooter.
The 40-year-old, who also owns a car, plans to buy an electric scooter, exempt from payment.
“Until then the big advantage of the scooter in Paris, in addition to the fact that you can park more easily than by car, is to be able to park for free”, he says.
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Get out of the exemption
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To justify the implementation of paid parking, debated for years, the town hall of Paris advances air pollution, noise pollution but also a “better balance of public space” or even the migration towards “mobility less polluting and softer”.
“We must get out of this exemption which scooters and motorcycles finally benefited from. It is a difficult measure, which requires a significant effort but which is essential for the continuation and the fight against pollution”, explains to AFP David Belliard, deputy (EELV) for mobility and the transformation of public space at the town hall of Paris.
Parisian residents are entitled to a preferential rate: the annual card is worth 22.50 euros per year, to which are added 0.75 euros per day of parking. A professional pass is also offered and free is therefore applied for electric PTWs and for disabled PTWs.
“We are going to encourage people to go (park) in the basement, we are going to recover public space, we are going to better regulate illegal parking, I hope,” argues Mr. Belliard.
Mother of three young children and living in the 20th arrondissement, Anissa (who does not wish to give her name) walks, stroller in hand, on the sidewalks of Paris, not far from a scooter attached to a barrier of safety near a school.
“Personally, I don’t find it very disturbing that they park on the barriers. This measure is not cool. And now, they park squarely in the middle of the spaces for cars, it creates even more difficulties. For me, it adds a new problem“, she says.
The Federation of Angry Bikers (FFMC) speaks of a “really discriminatory measure, especially for the poorest who live in the suburbs”. “Accommodation in Paris has become so expensive that people are exported further and further. The most affected are the suburbanites. It’s a real social problem, they cannot cycle 40 km”, notes the AFP the Ile-de-France delegate of the FFMC, Jean-Marc Belotti.
The FFMC, which launched a petition having collected some 42,400 signatures on Thursday noon, plans a demonstration on Saturday at midday in front of the town hall of Paris. An appeal to the administrative court was filed last September to annul the decree.