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(Bloomberg) — Heading into Paris in the comfort of a big car may become an expensive exercise, with drivers facing parking fees in excess of \u20ac100 ($108) for just a few hours of shopping or errands.<\/p>\n
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Parisians on Sunday will decide whether to raise parking rates for SUVs, which could see fees triple to as much as \u20ac18 an hour in some central Paris arrondissements.<\/p>\n
The vote, in line with many policies to clean up poor air quality in Paris and reclaim streets for pedestrians and cyclists, follows a similar move last year on banning shared electric scooters. The city\u2019s authorities went through with the removal, even as few people turned out to vote.<\/p>\n
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has made the French capital a leader among urban climate-protection and anti-pollution health measures. Aside from significantly curtailing space taken up by cars \u2014 often frustrating drivers \u2014 she\u2019s set out to make Paris a \u201c15-minute city\u201d where people can reach most of daily necessities by foot or bicycle in that time.<\/p>\n
The parking measure, if adopted, will apply to vehicles weighing more than 1.6 tons, or 2 tons, if they\u2019re electric. While often derided for their size and higher levels of pollution, SUVs haven\u2019t lost any of their appeal, including in France.<\/p>\n
SUV sales have risen sevenfold in the past decade in the country, representing about 40% of new car sales, according to a report by WWF France. In Paris, narrow and traffic-clogged streets mean the vehicles are often a space-hogging nuisance. Still, the referendum has come under fire for unfairly targeting families from the outskirts of the city that can\u2019t rely on public transport.<\/p>\n
Authorities in other cities, such as France\u2019s Lyon and T\u00fcbingen in Germany, have already started to incorporate vehicle weight into car parking tariffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are hoping for a Yes vote in the referendum so that Paris can show leadership on regulating large vehicles in urban areas,\u201d Jens M\u00fcller, deputy director of Clean Cities Campaign at Transport & Environment, an environmental lobby group, said in emailed comments.<\/p>\n
–With assistance from Craig Trudell.<\/p>\n
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