"Parisians have voted to triple parking fees for SUVs to make the city greener and friendlier for pedestrians and cyclists.
Sunday's vote was the latest leg in a drive by Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo to improve the host city ahead of this year's Olympic Games.
More than 54 per cent of the votes cast in the low-turnout election supported the measure to increase parking fees for large SUV drivers from out of town to €18 euros per hour in the city's centre, according to French media reports.
Only 5.7 per cent of the 1.3 million eligible voters cast ballots at the 39 voting stations around the city, the newspaper Le Monde said.
Why is Paris raising parking fees for SUVs?
In get-out-the-vote posts on social media, Hidalgo argued that SUVs take up too much space on narrow Parisian streets, are too polluting, "threaten our health and our planet", and cause more traffic accidents than smaller cars.
"The time has come to break with this tendency for cars that are always bigger, taller, wider," she said. “You have the power to take back ownership of our streets.”
The cost for non-residents to park SUVs in Paris’ central districts, in the arrondissements numbered 1 through 11, would soar to €18 per hour for the first two hours, compared to €6 per hour for smaller cars.
After that, parking would become increasingly punitive. A six-hour stay with an SUV - enough, say, to take in a show and a restaurant - would cost a whopping €225, compared to €75 for smaller vehicles.
Away from the heart of the city, in Paris' outer arrondissements numbered 12 through 20, an out-of-town SUV driver would pay €12 per hour for the first two hours, progressively rising to €150 for six hours.
Paris is becoming less car-friendly
In a country of car-lovers, home to Renault, Citroen and Peugeot, Hidalgo has worked for years to make Paris less car-friendly. Motor vehicles have been barred entirely from some roads, most notably a River Seine embankment that used to be a busy highway. It’s become a central Paris haven for cyclists, runners, families and romantics since Hidalgo closed it to motor traffic in 2016.
More bike lanes are being added for the 26 July 26 to 11 August Olympics and Paralympic Games that follow."
-via EuroNews.green, February 5, 2024
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