Parking fees should be hiked for SUVs in Irish cities, experts say

The mayor of Paris says her city has too many SUVs, so she’s asking voters to decide on a parking fee hike on February 4, 2024. Photo: AP/Christophe Ena

Plans by the mayor of Paris to introduce a so-called "SUV tax" on visitors coming to the French capital should be considered in Irish cities, according to transport and environmental experts.

Parisian mayor Anne Hidalgo has confirmed that voters in the French capital will be asked whether they want to see "very significant" increases in parking fees for SUVs visiting the city, with an eye on clearing the streets of unnecessary cars ahead of the Olympic Games next summer.

Around half a million spectators are expected to watch the Olympics around the streets of Paris next July.

"Many of you complain that there are still too many big polluting SUVs taking up more space on our streets and on our pavements,” Ms Hidalgo said upon announcing the proposal, the latest in a series of measures taken by her administration to make Paris more pedestrian and cycling friendly.

Senior climate advisor to Friends of the Earth Ireland, Sadhbh O'Neill, said what is helpful about the Hidalgo approach is that she's giving people an opportunity to debate it and vote on her proposal.

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"As a society, we often act unthinkingly. I'm sure many people purchase SUVs because they like driving them and feel 'safer' and are not pressed to consider the wider social and environmental impact.

"We've seen a huge increase in SUV sales in Ireland, whether electric vehicles (EV) or internal combustion engine, and of course, larger vehicles generate additional safety hazards associated with their extra size, weight, and bulk. This means they need more energy in the manufacturing process as well as to move around, all of which leads to higher CO2 emissions. 

"It is extremely worrying that the rise in SUV sales is essentially wiping out all the efficiency gains from the increased penetration of EVs in the car sales market," she said.

SUVs would have been the sixth largest emitter of carbon in the world last year if they were a country, while cars are now 300kg heavier than they were since the beginning of the century, the Oireachtas Climate Committee heard in September.

Ms O'Neill said: "It makes total sense to me to tax SUVs for their additional weight and I believe at least one political party, Labour, has included that in its alternative budget. We could go further and ban them in certain inner city and residential areas where they create additional hazards to vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists on the grounds of their size. 

"I'm not sure how that could be done—parking bylaws perhaps could require owners to pay for a second permit or a parking ticket if the SUV doesn't fit properly into one standard parking bay. Most parking apps recognise your car model when you put in the registration, so it could be configured to charge people a higher rate based on the size/model. 

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"But the main thing is that we have to take action on it as the problem is getting worse. 

"One other thing we'll have to think about is the issue of car storage. Mostly cars sit unused taking up valuable public land and real estate for 23 hours a day. That's a waste of space. We're going to have to start having conversations about car-sharing options to reduce the sheer amount of public road space given over to parking cars."

Strong local government

Trinity College Dublin professor in the Department of Civil, Structural, and Environmental Engineering, Brian Caulfield, said the Paris vote on the increased car parking charges for SUVs is one in a series of public votes that have been taken in Paris to support initiatives by their directly-elected mayor.

Such opportunities for decisive action would be opened further in Irish cities with directly-elected mayors, he said.

"The mandate upon which she was elected was to make Paris a more friendly city for pedestrians and cyclists and to redistribute the balance of the built environment space in favor of those taking sustainable modes of transport. 

"What this demonstrates is the strength of a powerful local government and a mayor with the vision and the mandate to change a city. She has used this policy tool recently in a vote on the banning of shared electric scooters in Paris, which passed. 

"These types of votes would seem to be a very powerful tool and when Ireland gets its first directly-elected mayor in Limerick, it would be great to see some of the public consultation measures used by Mayor Hidalgo enacted in the city."