Parking spaces: Environmental aid demands higher parking fees for “monster SUVs”

Enlarge image

Large car in Frankfurt am Main: cars have become an average of ten centimeters wider over the past 20 years

Photo:

Schöning / IMAGO

Tübingen led the way - the city, under the leadership of Mayor Boris Palmer, decided to make parking fees for SUV drivers significantly more expensive.

According to German Environmental Aid (DUH), more and more German cities should follow this example.

The organization demanded that all German cities should set higher parking fees for particularly large and heavy cars.

The municipalities could orientate themselves on Paris, for example, said the DUH.

At the beginning of February, citizens there will vote in a referendum on tripling parking fees for particularly large SUVs in the city center.

With regard to the size of the vehicles, the DUH referred to a recently published study by the non-governmental organization Transport & Environment.

It shows that newly registered cars in Europe have become an average of ten centimeters wider over the past 20 years.

Germany is the “sad leader” in this development.

ADAC criticizes SUV scandal

»These monster SUVs are increasingly blocking sidewalks and green spaces and endangering people who are traveling on foot or by bike.

The megalomania in SUVs must be stopped," said DUH Federal Managing Director Jürgen Resch.

In addition to parking fees, there must be binding size and weight requirements for cars.

As early as June 2023, German Environmental Aid called for high parking fees across the board in all cities and communities.

The General German Automobile Club (ADAC) criticizes the DUH for scandalizing the issue, as a spokeswoman for the ADAC said.

Terms like “monster SUV” and “danger” are inappropriate.

Higher parking fees for vehicles weighing over 1.6 tons “could not be a solution.”

“According to this definition, the owner of a VW Caddy, Seat Leon or Toyota C-HR would also be asked to pay,” the spokeswoman continued.

According to the Paris city administration's proposal, the higher parking tariff should apply to combustion engine and hybrid models weighing 1.6 tons or more and to electric models weighing two tons or more.

In the city center, 18 euros per hour would be charged, in the outskirts 12 euros.

However, only visitors should pay the special tariff for SUVs.

Residents of the capital should be excluded, as should craftsmen and nursing services.

SUV is the abbreviation for “sport utility vehicle” and means something like sporty off-road vehicle.

apr/dpa