Panic Backpedaling at the Paris City Hall

One week it’s no, the next it’s yes. The vote against SUVs in Paris is causing quite a stir.

At the end of a citizen consultation, Parisians endorsed on February 4 the idea of tripling the parking fees for heavy vehicles… What do you mean heavy? Wasn’t it about voting against SUVs and other 4X4s? Not at all, one had to read the conditions of the vote. Thus, 54.55% of voters expressed support for raising the hourly rate from 6 to 18 euros in the central districts, and from 4 to 12 euros in the outer districts, for parking thermal and hybrid vehicles weighing over 1600 kilograms and electric vehicles over 2 tons. It is worth noting that less than 80,000 people out of the 1.3 million concerned voted, which is 6%.

During the debates that preceded this heavily biased vote, the question of free residential parking for owners of hybrid or electric vehicles was naturally raised. The low-emission vehicle residential subscription currently allows Parisians driving hybrid or electric cars to park for free for up to seven consecutive days in areas close to their homes, or for six consecutive hours throughout Paris. There was no sign of a possible rule change in the voting texts, so one could consider that the only goal was to punish the naughty SUV drivers who pollute the city, damage the streets, and endanger our children.

So there was a surprise last week at a press briefing. “Owners of electric SUVs who previously benefited from free parking will have to pay a resident fee to park near their homes,” announced David Belliard, the EELV assistant for mobility, before specifying that this new charge would only concern “very few people.”

Few or many people, it doesn’t really matter in the end. The influential assistant has always considered that any car, whether Diesel, Gasoline, Hybrid, or Electric, is an enemy of the people that must be fought with all possible means. At least we can acknowledge that he doesn’t hide it.

Of course, the announcement made a big splash, and the city hall’s communicators rushed to disavow the zealous environmentalist, assuring low-emission vehicle owners of the “maintenance of their residential parking free of charge” and admitting “a misunderstanding.” “The City Hall of Paris, deeply attached to the intention of the vote expressed by Parisians, has heard the good faith of these vehicle owners.” That’s the least they could do, right?