Paris wants to significantly increase parking fees for heavy cars such as SUVs. The model is also triggering a debate in Germany – among other things, about how much room for maneuver municipalities should have.
An hour of parking in Paris will cost 18 euros for an SUV from September. That is three times as much as before. The higher tariffs should only affect visitors to the French capital. 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.
When asked, German parties react cautiously to the idea. The FDP criticizes the feasibility: “How are inspectors supposed to recognize whether it is actually a car weighing 1.6 tons? Lists would have to be kept, I don’t think that can be implemented,” said Bernd Reuther, transport policy spokesman for the Bundestag parliamentary group.
He doesn’t think it’s right to divide parking fees according to weight classes. However, cities and municipalities should decide for themselves how they charge parking fees or resident parking.
Union calls for better developed infrastructure
The Union’s transport expert, Christoph Ploß, also sees the Paris model as no role model for German cities. Instead of bans, politicians must offer alternatives so that people can decide for themselves which means of transport they use, said the CDU politician.
In his opinion, the infrastructure in German cities therefore urgently needs to be expanded. If local transport were more attractive, more people would voluntarily decide to leave their cars at home.
“Big cars create a huge problem”
For Mathias Stein, member of the Bundestag for the SPD and member of the transport committee, municipalities and cities should decide for themselves whether more expensive parking tickets make sense. In his opinion, this would be conceivable in individual cases.
“I think the mania to build ever larger and heavier cars is creating a huge problem for us in terms of infrastructure,” said Stein. Adapting the infrastructure to this is a “long haul” and cannot be accomplished in a few years.
Green Party traffic expert Stefan Gelbhaar says it’s good that the topic is being discussed. Nevertheless, he is not sure how realistic it is to implement the Paris model in Germany.
Disagreements around Room for maneuver of the municipalities
In order to introduce higher parking fees for oversized cars in Germany, the participation of cities and municipalities would be necessary. A new road traffic law should create more freedom for such cases as early as November. However, the Federal Council blocked the law. Now the mediation committee could be called to negotiate a compromise.
Stein believes that this is exactly the law that is needed now. “The municipalities need more scope for action when it comes to parking space management,” said the SPD traffic expert.
The AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag is critical of the law. This could give cities and municipalities too much freedom, says Dirk Spaniel, transport policy spokesman for the AfD. He also criticizes the model from Paris. Instead of higher parking fees for large cars, politicians must focus on better traffic flow and more parking spaces.
Citizens’ decision from Paris sparks debate
The decision from Paris had already been welcomed by the Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) and the German Environmental Aid (DUH). The BUND called for an urban transport concept.
With a view to the innovation of the Road Traffic Act, the German Association of Cities also called for more participation from cities and municipalities. However, the chairman ruled out a direct transfer of the Paris model to German cities.