225 euros for six hours Paris makes parking for heavy cars drastically more expensive
A declaration of war on SUVs: visitors to Paris with heavy cars will have to pay three times the parking rate in future. And another change as part of the traffic turnaround will also affect car drivers.
01.10.2024, 08:00
01.10.2024, 08:08
SDA
From the beginning of October, visitors to Paris will have to pay drastically higher parking rates for heavy cars. One hour's parking in the city center will now cost 18 euros for heavy SUVs and other heavy vehicles, while six hours will cost as much as 225 euros. Outside the city center, the rates are slightly lower. Residents of the capital, tradespeople and the disabled, for example, are exempt from the regulation.
54.5 percent voted in favor of the increase in parking fees
In a public survey at the beginning of February, in which just under six percent of those eligible to vote took part, 54.5 percent were in favor of increasing parking fees. The tariff is to apply to combustion and hybrid models weighing 1.6 tons or more and electric models weighing two tons or more. The regulation does not apply to private parking garages. The city argues that the heavy vehicles cause increased pollution, take up a lot of public space and endanger road safety.
Monitoring the new regulation is relatively simple. Paid parking has been monitored in Paris for some time using video vans that record the license plates of parked cars. Anyone who parks must first enter their license plate number at the parking machine. The automatic comparison of license plates gives the city access to the owner and vehicle data and therefore knows which weight class the parked cars fall into.
Increased charges part of traffic turnaround
With the public consultation, Mayor Anne Hidalgo gained backing for a further step in the traffic turnaround, which she is pushing forward with the red-green city government, even in the face of resistance. Years ago, she closed a number of riverside roads along the Seine to cars and made them accessible to pedestrians. The network of cycle paths in Paris is growing, while the number of car lanes and parking spaces is being reduced. New green spaces are being created and a 30 km/h speed limit has been introduced almost everywhere in the city. Just over a year ago, e-scooter rental in Paris also came to an end after a majority voted against the scooters in a public survey.
And from the beginning of October, despite protests even from the transport minister, the mayor is implementing another measure that is upsetting many motorists. On the city highway, the busy "Périphérique", the speed limit will be reduced from 70 to 50. Among other things, this should mean less noise for the many residents living along the highway. However, the average speed on the ring road at rush hour is well below 50 kilometers per hour.
