Paris to triple parking rates for SUVs: up to €18 per hour

The referendum targeted SUVs, short for sport utility vehicle. Combine the characteristics of a passenger car with the characteristics of a 4×4,

According to the municipal project, a visitor whose thermal or plug-in hybrid vehicle exceeds 1.6 tonnes (two tonnes in the case of an electric vehicle) must Pay 18 euros per hour to park in the central districts of Paris and 12 euros for the outer districts.

Socialist Party mayor Anne Hidalgo celebrated “the clear choice of Parisians”. The solution is “good for health and good for the planet.”

With this vote, Hidalgo sought to promote Fight pollution and improve road safety Since, according to the city council, accidents involving SUVs are twice as deadly to pedestrians as accidents involving a standard car.

pedestrian streets

Paris has already converted some streets along the Seine River into pedestrian zones Traffic was stopped on 200 roads. The City Council assured that the new rate would not affect “residents of Paris and professionals parking in their authorized parking areas, taxi drivers in dedicated stations, artisans, health professionals” as well as people with disabilities.

Caroline, a 51-year-old teacher, said she would vote in favor of tripling fees “for ecological reasons.” “Frankly, you don’t need an SUV in Paris,” he said. “It takes up a lot of space, causes pollution and makes cycling difficult,” Jerome, 59, gestured, bicycle helmet in hand.

NGO WWF considers SUVs an “aberration” to global warming because they are “200 kg heavier, 25 cm longer, 10 cm wider” than a standard car.

They also require more materials for their construction, They consume 15% fuel and emit 20% more CO2 More than a salon. But according to Yves Carra, spokesman for the French Mobility Club, car drivers’ associations criticize the city council’s initiative and assure that SUV is a “marketing name” that “doesn’t mean anything”. The city council’s conservative opposition and the French ecological transition minister, Christophe Bechu, were also against the initiative, telling RTL radio that “it is a form of penal ecology.”