Paris aims to drive out large SUVs by increasing parking fees
(VOVWORLD) - Paris aims to drive large sports utility vehicles (SUVs) out of its centre by hiking parking fees for heavy cars in the French capital, and it plans a citizens’ vote on the proposal early next year.
 A SUV car drives on a street in Paris as Paris City Hall will organise a public vote on the place of SUV cars in the French capital, France, November 20, 2023. (Photo: REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier/ File photo) |
After banning rental scooters in September in the wake of a citizen’s vote, Paris will hold a local referendum on Feb. 4 about “the place of SUVs in the capital”.
“We need to reduce the number and the size of cars in the city, that is why we will submit to a vote the question of how much space there should be for this type of vehicle in Paris,” Deputy Mayor David Belliard, an ecologist, told Reuters.
Under Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Paris has for years raised pressure on drivers by increasing parking costs and gradually banning diesel vehicles, while boosting the bicycle lane network in the congested capital.
Belliard said Paris also wanted car manufacturers to stop building this type of vehicle because they were too expensive, too polluting and unsuitable for cramped city centres.