Parisians are voting today on whether to triple the parking fees for out-of-town SUV drivers as part of the mayor’s anti-car and clean air campaign.
At polling stations across the city on Sunday, Parisians are answering “yes” or “no” to the question: “For or against the creation of a specific rate for the parking of heavy, bulky, polluting individual cars?”
If, as recent polling suggests, Parisians vote in line with socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo’s plan, drivers of SUVs will have to pay a whopping €18 an hour to park in the city centre - three times the current pricing of €6.
Elsewhere in the city, parking rates for SUVs would rise from €4 to €12. The bylaw would apply to all combustion engine or plug-in hybrid vehicles weighing more than 1.6 tonnes, and electric vehicles weighing more than 2 tonnes. The fare increase could bring in an extra €35 million to city coffers.
The new parking levies would affect popular models such as the Land Rover Discovery and Jeep Wrangler but would not apply to Paris residents, taxi drivers, health professionals and parking permit holders for people with disabilities.
Sadiq Khan watching results closely
Last week, London mayor Sadiq Khan said he will be watching the results of the Paris referendum closely, telling The Guardian: “We always examine policies around the globe. I’m a firm believer in stealing good policies. Rather than inventing [new policies] badly, if other cities are doing stuff that works, we will copy them.”
A spokesman for the mayor was quick to add that Mr Khan has no plans to implement parking levies in London.
Ms Hidalgo’s offensive against SUVs portrays them as a menace to street safety and air quality. The cars represent about 40 per cent of new car sales in France.
Over the last 30 years, cars have become bulkier and heavier, taking up more space on streets. Due to their size, SUV collisions with pedestrians and cyclists are twice as fatal compared to a standard car, the city says.
Meanwhile, figures from the International Energy Agency show that in 2022, SUVs alone were responsible for one billion tonnes of CO2 emissions. For context, if SUVs were a country, they would rank as sixth most polluting country in the world.
Opponents criticise plan as ‘shortsighted’
But some opponents have criticised the mayor’s plan as shortsighted, claiming that smaller, older cars can be more polluting than a new SUV model.
Philippe Nozière, president of 40 Millions d’Automobilistes, an organisation that advocates for drivers, denounced the referendum as a “sham of democracy”. “It’s a big farce,” he told French TV channel BFMTV.
Paris is not the first city to suggest penalising gas-guzzling SUV drivers, who already pay more to park in part of Montreal, as well as the German town of Tübingen.
Last week, the French city of Lyon announced plans to forge ahead with a similar parking fare scheme, without putting it to a public vote.
The referendum on SUVs follows a campaign by Ms Hidalgo last spring that put an end to rented electric scooters, which residents complained were dangerous and clogged up pavements.