Paris triples parking fees for SUVs - Part of the traffic transition

For visitors to Paris, drastically increased parking fees for heavy cars will come into effect from the beginning of October. One hour of parking in the city center now costs 18 euros for heavy SUVs and other weighty vehicles, while six hours will cost a whopping 225 euros. Outside the city center, rates are somewhat lower. Residents of the capital, craftsmen, or disabled people are exempt from the regulation.

In a citizen survey in early February, in which only just under six percent of eligible voters participated, 54.5 percent voted in favor of increasing parking fees. The new tariff will apply to combustion and hybrid models weighing from 1.6 tons and electric models weighing from 2 tons. The regulation does not apply to private parking garages. The city argues that the heavy vehicles cause increased environmental pollution, take up a lot of public space, and endanger traffic safety.

Monitoring of the new regulation is relatively simple. Paid parking in Paris has been controlled for some time using video vehicles that capture the license plates of parked cars. Anyone parking must enter their license plate number at the parking meter beforehand. With the automatic matching of license plates, the city has access to owner and vehicle data and can thus determine which weight class the parked vehicles fall into.