Anyone driving an SUV to Paris from September will have to dig deep into their pockets. Higher parking fees will be charged there in the future for oversized vehicles. Environmental aid speaks of a wake-up call for German cities.
One hour of parking costs 18 euros, six hours 225 euros. According to a referendum in Paris, these tariffs will be due from September for visitors to the French capital who come with particularly heavy cars. In Germany, the Paris parking fee decision has met with a mixed response.
German Environmental Aid (DUH) welcomed the result. “This is a wake-up call for German cities to follow the Paris model and introduce higher parking fees in their city centers for city tanks, pick-ups and other oversized vehicles,” said DUH managing director Jürgen Resch. Anyone who buys an oversized car will have to park it in a mobile home or truck parking lot on the outskirts of the city.
Paris: Higher SUV parking fees for visitors only
Around 1.3 million residents of the French capital took part in the vote under the motto “More or less SUV in Paris?” called. Around 54.5 percent voted in favor of increasing parking fees, around 45.5 percent against it. However, only just under six percent of those eligible to vote took part in the election.
Only visitors should pay the special tariff for SUVs; residents are excluded, as are tradesmen and care 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. The regulation does not apply to private parking garages.
BUND demands urban Transportation concept
The environmental organization Greenpeace also believes the Paris measure makes sense: “This decision is the long-overdue signal to the auto industry that the high ecological costs of multi-ton city tanks can no longer be passed on to society as a whole,” said Greenpeace mobility expert Clara Thompson. Such cars used too many resources, too much space, too much clean air. Governments all over the world – including Germany – should follow this example, said Thompson.
The Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) is also calling for higher parking fees – so that parked cars do not unnecessarily hinder the use of public space for other purposes. “However, the necessary measures to reduce and increase the cost of parking spaces should always be implemented in conjunction with the implementation of an urban transport concept that includes sufficient alternatives to owning a car,” says BUND transport expert Jens Hilgenberg.
Role model for German cities and municipalities?
The German Association of Cities wants to give cities more leeway when it comes to transport issues. An amendment to the Road Traffic Act is necessary so that German cities have more freedom to make decisions in traffic issues, said the General Manager of the Association of Cities, Helmut Dedy. “It should be possible to clarify on site which streets you can drive on, how fast, how much parking costs and how traffic is directed.”
“The decision from Paris to charge particularly high parking fees for SUVs is not suitable as a blueprint for Germany,” said the general manager of the Association of Cities and Municipalities, André Berghegger. The assessment of the fees must be negotiated locally, taking into account different interests.
In large cities with good local transport, a solution could look different than in many of the 11,000 municipalities in Germany where there is enough parking space. “That’s why we shouldn’t use parking fees to tell people which car they can drive.”