Because of the SUV abundance: Paris takes action against all-terrain vehicles ahead of anti-Semitism on the left: “This is an unbearable put into perspective”

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo wants vehicles that are too wide, if not by the collar, then at least by the collar width: SUVs, off-road vehicles and similar cars would have to pay higher parking fees in the French capital. And the decision will be made in an unusual way: a referendum on the explosive proposal will be held on February 4.

In April, the Social Democrat Hidalgo had already banned electric rental scooters in a vote. 89 percent of Parisians eligible to vote were in favor of the ban – with a very low turnout.

SUVs are no longer just a niche problem in Paris: according to the Association of European Car Manufacturers (Acea), almost half of all vehicles sold in 2022 were higher and heavier than a classic sedan.

“With this vote we are saying to the car manufacturers: stop!”, Hidalgo explains. Because private vehicles are ‘becoming heavier, more expensive, more resource-efficient and more polluting’. Therefore, drivers of such off-road vehicles would have to pay higher parking fees in the future.

It is not yet known how high these should be; According to Hidalgo, the increase should be “very significant.” If the referendum is positive, the red-green coalition in the Paris city council can set the rates. This concerns cars that weigh more than 1.6 tons if they have a combustion or hybrid engine, or more than 2 tons if they are an electric car.

Because of election tactics?

There is a lot to talk about, with one caveat: almost only vehicles from the suburbs would be affected – where Hidalgo’s expertise is not sufficient and where there are no votes. Vehicles owned by residents of Paris, on the other hand, are exempt from the higher parking fees if they have a mandatory neighborhood parking permit. The right accuses Hidalgo of only thinking about her voters.

Traffic planners cite two ways to curb the glut of SUVs. One of these is the increase in parking fees, which Paris is now voting on and which other French cities such as Lyon also want to introduce around the turn of the year. A referendum on this is seen as a political signal.

The approach of cities such as Bern or Geneva is more neutral: there, parking garages have significantly expanded the parking spaces by one floor each and increased the rates by 25 percent. According to a study by the Duisburg University Institute CAR, the average car width has increased from 1.68 to 1.80 since the end of the last century.

The accusation by the right-wing opposition in Paris against Hidalgo that they are trying to divert attention from their “Tahiti affair” with the spectacular anti-SUV measure is also highly political. In October, the mayor completed a trip to the South Pacific to visit a surfing facility before the Paris Olympics. The appointment was subsequently cancelled; In reality, the three-week trip that followed was for private purposes only. (aargauerzeitung.ch)