As of: February 6, 2024, 7:45 a.m
By: Felicitas Breschendorf
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In Paris, drivers of heavy city SUVs will soon have to pay high parking fees.
A German cycling association is taking the city as a model – but in a different way.
“Most of the space on the streets is occupied by ever-increasing cars, mostly parked cars.
So that young and old can cycle safely and comfortably, car traffic has to give up space.
“Especially park space,” the General German Bicycle Club (Adfc) tells
BuzzFeed News Germany,
a portal from
Ippen.Media
.
In Paris, SUVs are affected by a decision that is also making Germany sit up and take notice.
In a citizen survey on Sunday (February 4, 2024), a majority voted in favor of tripling parking fees for heavy city off-road vehicles.
The question of who is allowed to park where always sparks discussions on social media.
1 hour of parking for SUV drivers in Paris should cost 18 euros instead of 6 euros
The Paris city administration pushed through with its plan to charge 18 euros instead of the usual 6 euros for one-hour parking for SUVs and other heavy cars in the center and 12 euros instead of 4 euros in the outskirts.
For six hours of parking in the center you will have to pay 225 euros instead of the previous 75 euros.
The new regulation should take effect from September 1, 2024.
Around 1.3 million residents of the capital were called to vote under the motto “More or less SUVs in Paris?”
Around 54.5 percent voted in favor of increasing parking fees, around 45.5 percent against it.
However, participation in the vote was only just under six percent.
The city administration did not want to accept objections that the result was hardly representative.
After all, tens of thousands of people took advantage of the opportunity for direct citizen participation.
Bicycle activist calls for a referendum in Germany
A survey shows that German drivers are more aggressive than before.
Cyclists suffer from this.
Large SUVs further block their paths.
With a rule like the one in Paris, not only they but also pedestrians are better protected from large cars, says Ingwar Perovanovich.
He is a bicycle activist and politician from the “Climate List” party.
Can the Berlin cyclist still squeeze past the SUV?
(Archive image) © IMAGO / Stefan Zeitz
Perovanowitsch wants a referendum based on the French model in Germany, in individual municipalities and districts.
“I hope this will trigger a debate about the usefulness of cars that are too big in cities and how they can be pushed back,” he tells
BuzzFeed News Germany.
Residents should be able to vote not only on parking fees, but also on parking bans for SUVs.
A referendum could show German car manufacturers “that their large cars are encountering resistance in parts of society and that they are building normal-sized cars again.”
The bicycle activist also hopes that the “arms race” will stop, i.e. people will buy ever larger cars.
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Bicycle association wants parking spaces to give way to cycle paths
The Adfc is calling for “more space for bikes,” said spokeswoman Stephanie Krone.
The association also sees Paris as a role model.
The city administration has been fighting for a traffic turnaround and less car traffic for years.
Mayor Anne Hidalgo will have 70,000 parking spaces converted into cycle paths by 2026, as various media reports.
“In some sections, the banks of the Seine have been completely freed from the roar of car traffic.
Today you can drink coffee here in peace, play with children, roller-skate or jog and watch the ships,” says Krone.
The Adfc wants such places to be created in Germany too, with parking spaces increasingly becoming cycle paths.
“These oases of quality of life are important for stressed city dwellers.
And more space for wide, protected cycle paths is important for climate protection in traffic and the safety of cycling.”
Higher parking fees for SUVs are not on the cycling association’s agenda.
“How cities create more space for bicycles should be up to them.
What is certain is that our outdated German road traffic law is hindering cities and municipalities from converting road space,” says Krone.
To achieve this, the Road Traffic Act (StVG) urgently needs to be modernized.
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(
With material from dpa
)