Parisians have voted to triple parking prices for out-of-town SUV drivers as a part of the town’s efforts to deal with street security, air air pollution, and local weather change. The proposals had been narrowly accepted in a referendum vote on Sunday, with The Washington Submit reporting that 54.6 % of contributors voted in favor of measures aiming to scale back the presence of “heavy, cumbersome, and polluting” autos within the metropolis middle.
Beginning September 1st, fuel or hybrid SUVs, and different bigger autos weighing over 1.6 tonnes (1.76 tons), can be charged €18 (round $19.40) per hour to park within the middle of Paris, and €12 (round $12.90) per hour in the remainder of the town. The charging costs additionally apply to electrical autos weighing over two tonnes (2.20 tons). Exemptions are in place for taxis and metropolis residents, which suggests these touring into Paris from exterior the town can be most impacted. In accordance with one of many posters for the referendum, solely three in 10 Parisians even personal a private automobile.
“Paris is reworking itself to permit individuals to breathe higher and stay higher.”
“We’re doing this to scale back air pollution and to make our youngsters safer as a result of these automobiles are harmful,” mentioned Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo whereas campaigning final week. “Paris is reworking itself to permit individuals to breathe higher and stay higher.” In a video printed to Fb on November 14th, Hidalgo promoted the referendum by referencing a World Extensive Fund for Nature (WWF) examine that discovered SUVs to be 20 % extra polluting and twice as prone to kill a pedestrian in a collision in comparison with smaller standard automobiles.
Turnout for the referendum was low, which noticed simply 5.7 % of Paris’s registered voters taking part. The vote was intently monitored by different capital cities like London, which face comparable challenges in tackling the assorted security and air pollution points attributable to the rising international recognition of SUV-type autos. On Friday, London Mayor Sadiq Khan informed The Guardian: “We all the time look at insurance policies across the globe. I’m a agency believer in stealing good insurance policies. Relatively than inventing [new policies] badly, if different cities are doing stuff that works, we’ll copy them.”
The rise in SUV parking charges is the newest measure Hidalgo has pursued to make Paris extra pleasant to the atmosphere, pedestrians, and cyclists. Paris officers have improved biking infrastructure and introduced plans to arrange a traffic-reducing “tranquil zone” to scale back the circulate of autos into the town middle, for instance, and efficiently banned rental electrical scooters final yr following an increase in accidents and fatalities amongst customers. Hidalgo mentioned final week that the removing of rental scooters had launched a “feeling of liberation and calm,” which Paris goals to construct upon additional by lowering the variety of SUVs within the metropolis middle.