Paris, SUVs and common sense
As of January 1, 2024, SUV-type vehicles will pay much higher to park on the streets of Paris, as part of measures to curb what City Hall describes as “absurd epidemic of auto-besity”, the progressive growth in the size and weight of vehicles circulating in cities. These behemoths not only increase pollution levels, they are a danger to pedestrians and smaller vehicles. Lyon has already announced similar measures that will also come into force next January, and Grenoble is considering introducing a similar system.
The idea of taking into account the size of the vehicle, its weight and the size of its engine when calculating its parking fee is an attempt to discourage a consumer choice driven by car companies that have turned them into an urban status symbol. According to the data, the number of SUVs in Paris has increased by no less than 60% in the last four years, and they now account for 15% of the 1. 15 million private vehicles parked in the French capital every night. The only exceptions to the parking fee increase would be for large families who can justify the need for a vehicle of that size, or for fully electric SUVs.
As David Belliard, Paris’ councilor for mobility, and a member of the environmentalist EELV party, which won 23 seats in the 2020 municipal elections, explains, the idea owning an SUV in a city like Paris makes no sense:
