Parisians approve referendum on tripling parking fees for SUVs

A small number of Parisians voted Sunday in favour of increasing parking fees for large SUVs, as part of a plan to reduce pollution and to discourage drivers from bringing them into the city.

SUVs like this one will have to pay more than other cars to park in Paris, after a referendum passed on Sunday tripling parking fees, in a bid to curb pollution. © Michel Euler/AP

In the end, 54.6 percent of voters approved the referendum on a special parking fee to triple prices for polluting vehicles weighing 1.6 tonnes or more, though only 5.7 percent of voters turned out.

The price to park large, internal combustion or hybrid SUVs will go up to over 18 euros an hour in central Paris, to discourage polluting cars from entering the city. The new price would also apply to electric cars of two tonnes and more.

"We're proud of having posed an eminently environmental question at a time the environment is presented as the source of all evil," Mayor Anne Hidalgo said after the results were published. "It is a form of resistance here in Paris to this very concerning movement."

Only 78,000 of the 1.3 million eligible voters cast a ballot, echoing the low turnout of a previous referendum on electric scooter rentals.

Hidalgo conceded that Sunday’s turnout was “a little bit less” than for the scooters, but still claimed victory and said she would use the referendum method to “decide on questions that have to do with our daily lives”.

She has transformed Paris streets, banning cars from the Seine riverbanks and adding 84 kilometres of bicycle lanes since 2020.

The new measure on SUVs, which the mayor’s office says should bring in 35 million euros of income, will come into effect after it is presented to the city council in May, to be applied as of September.

The city has said that the increased parking fees will not apply to Parisian residents, professionals and taxis parked in dedicated spots, healthcare workers, artisans or people with disabilities.

High-polluting diesel vehicles have already been banned from entering the Paris region during the daytime on weekdays.

(with newswires)