Paris’ mayor Anne Hidalgo arrives at a polling station as Paris residents vote on the creation of particular parking charges for the heaviest and most polluting automobiles and sports activities utility automobiles (SUV) in Paris on February 4, 2024. (Picture by Thomas SAMSON / AFP)
PARIS—Paris voters on Sunday backed a proposal from the capital’s socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo to triple parking costs on hefty SUV-style automobiles, in response to official outcomes from metropolis corridor.
Parisians voted 54.55 % in favor of charging automobiles weighing 1.6 tons or extra 18 euros ($19.50/P1,091.65) per hour for parking within the metropolis heart, or 12 euros additional out.
However solely 78,000, or 5.7 %, of the 1.3 million eligible voters bothered to vote on the 39 voting stations arrange across the French capital.
Hidalgo hailed a “clear selection of Parisians” in favor of a measure that’s “good for our well being and good for the planet.”
Totally electrical automobiles should prime two tons to be affected, whereas folks dwelling or working in Paris, taxi drivers, tradespeople, well being employees and folks with disabilities will all be exempt.
“It’s an ecological problem, nevertheless it’s additionally a societal problem, and it’s about how cities have to evolve in a altering atmosphere,” stated Gregoire Marchal, a 43-year-old cinema distributor, after voting in favor of the measure at a polling station in Paris’ tenth district.
“I do have a automotive, however I feel it’s nice that we are able to ask ourselves the query and alter our conduct,” he added.
Not all voters have been completely satisfied.
“I’m sick of all these diktaks from Mrs. Hidalgo,” stated Jeannine, 75, within the wealthier eighth district, the place extra of the automobiles look like SUVs.
‘Aberration’
On Hidalgo’s watch, the capital metropolis has pedestrianized many streets, together with the banks of the river Seine, and constructed a community of cycle lanes in an effort to discourage driving and scale back dangerous transport emissions.
Environmental group World Huge Fund for Nature has dubbed SUVs an “aberration,” saying they burn 15 % extra gas than a traditional coupe and price extra to construct and buy.
READ: Bike-friendly Paris votes on elevating parking charges for SUVs
Metropolis corridor has additional pointed to security issues about taller, heavier SUVs, which it says are “twice as lethal for pedestrians as a normal automotive” in an accident.
The automobiles are additionally singled out for taking over extra public house—whether or not on the highway or whereas parked—than others. —AFP