$30 per hour SUV parking tax set for Paris – would it work in Australia?
Experts say this fee alone may not be enough to help Aussie cities deal with the recent influx of large SUVs and utes.
A proposal to charge SUV drivers $30 per hour to park in Paris's city centre to tackle air pollution, climate change, and road safety has been supported by Parisian voters, and questions are being asked whether Australian cities should impose similar charges given the controversial influx of larger cars and utes on our roads.
The majority of Parisians (54.6%) voted in favour of tripling the parking costs for SUVs in Paris in a referendum on Sunday. "Parisians have made a clear choice. Other cities will follow," Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said following the vote, which attracted only 6 per cent of registered voters to the polling booths.
Australia has seen a dramatic rise in the popularity of oversized utes and American SUVs, and some frustrated residents would love to see a similar rule implemented here. But Urban Development expert Dr Christopher Standen at the University of NSW says this rule would not be enough to have an effect on our cities.
Australian cities made up of privately owned car parks
While it "sounds like a good idea" to introduce a parking cost such as this for SUVs, as a "standalone measure" it may not be effective in reducing the "scourge of SUVs in our city centres," Dr Standen said.
"A lot of car parking is in privately owned, off-street facilities," he told Yahoo News Australia. "For example, shopping centres offer free or heavily subsidised parking to customers who drive to them — with the full cost passed on to all customers through the prices of goods and services."
With so many privatised, off-street parking alternatives available, it means the enforcement of a similar parking tax here may not work as it should.
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Other suggestions for tackling SUVs
Dr Standen argues there are likely more effective ways of "reducing the harms of SUVs and trucks" in our cities such as:
Revoking tax incentives and subsidies for the purchase of larger vehicles
Restricting their sale to those who need them for a valid work purpose
Introducing higher vehicle registration fees
Why reducing SUVs is beneficial for cities?
Traffic congestion is growing worse year after year, something the Australian Automobile Association has proven. The increased traffic has many negative health and social impacts on city residents, Dr Standen explained, and includes "sleep loss and anxiety from traffic noise, asthma, cancer, stroke and heart disease from air pollution."
As well as this, "thousands of fatalities and serious injuries" are caused by crashes. "Large SUVs and trucks are particularly harmful," he said.
Their presence means more ramshackle roads, damaged by the higher weight, as well as more air toxins emitted — even from electric ones. "[They are] much more likely to kill pedestrians in a crash, especially children, older adults and women," he added. "A child is at much greater risk of being hit and killed on a driveway by an SUV or truck driver than a car driver."
Monash University lecturer Julian O'Shea previously told Yahoo the climate impacts were much bigger with SUVs, which are the second-largest contributor to the increase in global CO2 emissions since 2010, according to the International Energy Agency.
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