Paris votes to triple parking charges for SUVs

Parisians on Sunday voted  in favor of mountaineering parking charges for giant SUVs, because the French capital presses on with long-term plans to develop into a completely bikeable metropolis.

The consequence means massive SUVs could be topic to a threefold improve in parking charges — €18 ($19.50) per hour for parking within the metropolis middle, or €12 additional out.

Some 54.5% of these collaborating within the referendum voted in favor of mountaineering parking payment, whereas 45.5% rejected the movement, in accordance with official outcomes. 

But the turnout was low, with solely 78,000 individuals of the 1.3 million eligible voters casting their ballots on the 39 voting stations across the French capital.

Move to discourage automobile use

The referedum comes lower than a yr after metropolis residents voted to ban e-scooters.

The greater parking payment will apply to combustion and hybrid fashions weighing 1.6 tons or extra and electrical fashions weighing two tons or extra.

“We’re proud of having posed an eminently environmental question at a time the environment is presented as the source of all evil,” Mayor Anne Hidalgo mentioned after the outcomes. “It’s a form of resistance here in Paris to this very concerning movement.”

Under Hidalgo, a Socialist, the streets of Paris have been remodeled, with 84 kilometers of cycle lanes created since 2020 and a 71% soar in bike utilization between the top of the COVID-19 lockdowns and 2023, in accordance with City Hall.

But Sunday’s vote additionally drew criticism, from motorists’ associations. 

SUVs have develop into more and more fashionable in France, favored by households in specific.

rm/sri (Reuters, AFP, dpa)