The City of Paris will organize a second vote on February 4, after that on self-service scooters, to decide to apply a more expensive parking rate for heavy SUVs, Anne Hidalgo announced on Tuesday.
This higher rate would not affect residential parking. It is proposed by Paris City Hall to “enable better sharing of public space for the benefit of soft mobility, from streets to schools and pedestrians,” indicates the city hall in a press release.
“The size and average weight of vehicles have continued to increase”
“The vote will be open to all Parisians registered on the electoral lists”, as for the consultation on scooters in April, the city specified. “If for ten years, the place of the individual car has diminished in Paris, due to a proactive policy of the Parisian executive, at the same time, the size and average weight of vehicles have not, as for them, continues to increase,” notes the press release.
“Accident-prone, heavy, bulky and polluting, SUV vehicles are identified by multiple institutional actors as a cause of numerous problems within the public space,” even affirms the town hall.
However, it did not specify the amount of the specific tariff envisaged, but it envisages “a very significant increase”, nor the weight determined for an SUV to be considered “heavy”. The city hopes with this vote to send “a message” to car manufacturers to encourage them to abandon “a race towards gigantism that is unsuitable for the quality of life in the city”.
A rejection like for scooters?
Parisians who wish to participate are invited to register on the electoral lists by January 8 if they have not already done so.
In April, the vote on self-service electric scooters brought together just over 100,000 voters, or 7.46% of those registered. They overwhelmingly rejected (89.03%) this mode of transport which has since disappeared from the streets of Paris.