Photo: Dimitar Dilkoff Agence France-Presse “The bigger it is, the more it pollutes,” Mayor Anne Hidalgo argued in December to justify her approach.
France Media Agency in Paris
08:20
- Europe
Haro on the big hoods: the Paris town hall is organizing a vote on Sunday proposing the tripling of parking rates for tall and heavy cars, such as SUVs, without convincing opponents and motorists.
1.3 million Parisian voters are invited to vote “for or against the creation of a specific rate for the parking of heavy, bulky, polluting individual cars”.
Targeted are sport utility vehicles (SUVs), with characteristics combining “those of a passenger car with those of a utility vehicle”, and 4x4s.
If the “for” side wins, the visitor whose thermal or plug-in hybrid vehicle exceeds 1.6 tonnes, or two tonnes for an electric vehicle, will have to pay 18 euros (CA$26) per hour for central arrondissements, 12 euros ($17.50 CAD) for outer arrondissements.
But “Parisian residents and sedentary professionals parked in their authorized parking zone, taxi drivers in dedicated stations, craftsmen, health professionals” and disabled people will not be affected, lists the town hall.
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“The bigger it is, the more it pollutes”, justified Anne Hidalgo in December, the socialist mayor of a capital which has already pedestrianized the banks of the Seine, banned general traffic on an artery, rue de Rivoli, and greened 200 streets, eliminating traffic there too.
Other arguments: that of “road safety”, accidents involving an SUV being, according to the town hall, “twice as fatal for pedestrians as with a standard car”, as well as “better sharing of public space », large cars taking up more space on the road.
The NGO WWF describes SUVs as an “aberration” in the face of global warming: “200 kilos heavier, 25 cm longer, 10 cm wider” than a standard car, they require more materials for their manufacture, consume 15% fuel and emit 20% more CO2 than a sedan.
However, motorist associations criticize the initiative. Some believe that “compact SUVs will not be subject to taxation”, unlike family sedans and vans, and dispute that a new SUV pollutes more than a small diesel before 2011.
Similarly, for the municipal opposition which cries “manipulation”, “any type of vehicle is likely to be affected” and only Parisian voters “not affected” by the measures will vote.
This vote will be the second in Paris. The first in April 2023 confirmed the elimination of self-service scooters. The vote mobilized 103,000 people, or 7% of the capital's voters.