Paris to Triple Parking Fees for SUVs

This week, Parisians passed a referendum that will charge large vehicles €18 (around $19.40) per hour to park in the center of Paris and €12 (around $12.90) per hour in the rest of the city — three times the cost to park a smaller vehicle — reports the Verge’s Jess Weatherbed.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, a proponent of the referendum, said at a recent campaign event, “We’re doing this to reduce pollution and to make our children safer because these cars are dangerous.”

However, low voter turnout (5.7 percent) and a razor-thin vote margin (54.6 percent of participants voted in favor of the measure) suggest locals aren’t strongly passionate about the issue. However, only three in 10 Parisians even own cars and the measure contains exemptions for taxis and city residents, so the new fees will mostly impact people traveling into Paris from outside the city.

“The increase in SUV parking rates is the latest measure Hidalgo has pursued to make Paris more friendly to the environment, pedestrians, and cyclists,” and other cities that face similar challenges with safety and pollution issues caused by popular SUV-type vehicles are watching, Weatherbed writes. London Mayor Sadiq Khan told The Guardian: “We always examine policies around the globe. I’m a firm believer in stealing good policies. Rather than inventing [new policies] badly, if other cities are doing stuff that works, we will copy them.”

The new pricing will go into effect on September 1.