Hanover’s mayor has spoken out in favor of making parking more expensive for SUV drivers. The model is Paris: There, residents will vote tomorrow on whether the fees for visitors with large and heavy cars should be tripled.
Following the example of the French capital Paris, Hanover’s mayor Belit Onay has advocated making parking for so-called SUVs more expensive. “The trend towards more and more larger and heavier cars continues,” said the Green politician to the “Tagesspiegel”. “I therefore have great sympathy for a price scale for parking fees based on the length of the vehicles.”
The background is a citizen survey in Paris this Sunday. There, residents should decide whether parking fees in public parking spaces should be tripled for visitors with large and heavy SUVs. Just one hour of parking in the center would cost 18 euros instead of the usual six euros, and in the outskirts twelve euros instead of four euros.
Onay said: “The referendum shows once again that the debate needs to be about the limited public space and more appropriate pricing for parking.” All major European cities face this challenge. He is very excited about the result.
Association of cities and municipalities skeptical
The German Environmental Aid (DUH) had previously called on all German cities to set higher parking fees for ever larger SUVs. The cities should model themselves on Paris. “These monster SUVs are increasingly blocking sidewalks and green spaces and endangering people who are on foot or cycling. The megalomania surrounding SUVs must be stopped,” said DUH Federal Managing Director Jürgen Resch.
However, criticism came from the General German Automobile Club (ADAC). Higher parking fees weighing more than 1.6 tons cannot be a solution,” it said. This also affects vehicles that are not classic SUVs.
The German Association of Cities and Municipalities expressed skepticism. The municipal association said that grading parking fees based on vehicle size is difficult to implement in practice and has so far only been attempted by a few cities. In June 2023, the Federal Administrative Court determined that jumps in fees based on the length of the vehicle must not be too large. Illegal unequal treatment must be ruled out.
Special rate in Paris applies only to visitors
The Paris city administration justifies the demand for higher tariffs by saying that increasingly larger and heavier vehicles cause pollution, take up a lot of public space and endanger road safety. “This vote should be a message to the automobile manufacturers,” it says. “Their pursuit of profit, which consists of deliberately selling ever larger, more fuel-efficient and more expensive vehicles, endangers the ecological transition.”
Only visitors should pay the special tariff for SUVs in the French capital. Residents would be exempt, as would tradesmen and nursing services. The tariff should apply to combustion engine and hybrid models weighing 1.6 tons or more and electric models weighing two tons or more.
Petition against higher fees in France
In France, higher parking fees for heavy vehicles are planned in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux and Grenoble. The automobile club “40 million d’automobilistes” has already launched a petition against an increase in tariffs. The reason given was that this would particularly affect families who wanted a car with more space. It is foreseeable that restrictions will be tightened overall. “Make no mistake: this fight against SUVs is just a loophole to eradicate the car as a whole,” the club continued.