Paris City Hall will propose a tripling of parking rates for high and heavy cars called SUVs (“sport utility vehicles”, leisure all-terrain vehicles), during the vote organized on February 4, PS Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced on Friday. .
If “yes” wins to the question “For or against the creation of a specific rate for the parking of heavy, bulky, polluting individual cars?”, SUV drivers will have to pay an hourly rate of 18 euros for the central districts and 12 euros for the outer districts, said his mobility assistant David Belliard (EELV).
Parisian residents not affected
In its proposal, the town hall set the weight thresholds to apply these prices at “1.6 tonnes for thermal and hybrid vehicles” and “2 tonnes for electric vehicles”, which are still “polluting with their system of braking and tires which emit a lot of fine particles”, announced Anne Hidalgo.
“In the event of a yes vote on this question, Parisian residents and professionals will not be affected”, nor disabled people who have the supporting documents, she indicated. Free parking will be maintained for all vehicles at night and on Sundays, she said.
Objective: accelerate the ecological transition
The town hall’s initiative “aims to accelerate this ecological transition in which we tackle air pollution” because “the bigger it is, the more it pollutes”, said the elected socialist about SUVs. In addition to this health issue, limiting the presence of SUVs in the capital with these tripled prices aims to improve “road safety, because the bigger it is, the greater the risk of accident, particularly for children or members of the public. fragile,” explained Ms. Hidalgo.
The “third reason” which justifies the vote is “to better share public space which is not free”. According to David Belliard, thermal and hybrid cars weighing more than 1.6 tonnes represent “around 10% of the fleet”. On a constant basis, out of around 70,000 car parking tickets generated every day in the capital, 7,000 SUVs would therefore be affected, he told AFP.
35 million euros in additional revenue for the city
According to Anne Hidalgo, these price increases could bring additional revenue of 35 million euros for the city. The vote will take place in 36 voting locations and only in person, without proxy or electronic voting, indicated the Deputy Secretary General of the City Laurence Girard.