Tübingen will be the first city in Germany to charge higher resident parking fees for heavy off-road vehicles.

After a controversial debate, the city's climate protection committee recommended increasing the annual fee to 120 euros.

Owners of vehicles that weigh more than 1,800 kilograms should pay 180 euros a year.

This is primarily intended to displace SUVs, i.e. heavy off-road vehicles, from downtown Tübingen.

The regulation also includes electric vehicles.

The SPD and the Greens / Alternative List voted for the new fee model;

seven committee members voted against it.

Rudiger Soldt

Political correspondent in Baden-Württemberg.

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Mayor Boris Palmer (Greens) had demanded an even higher taxation of off-road vehicles in the summer.

Palmer had proposed increasing the resident parking fee from 30 to 360 euros.

The local council did not follow this suggestion in July.

Palmer sees the fee increase only as a first step.

The maintenance costs for parking spaces in the city center are higher than the decided 50 cents per day.

Freiburg is considering increasing parking fees

In the summer, Palmer justified the fee increase as follows: “You didn't pay for the road. You don't pay enough taxes already. Your favorite vehicle receives massive subsidies from all taxpayers and future generations. If the prices were telling the truth, a parking space would not have to cost 30 euros a year, but 3,000. ”After the amendment to the Road Traffic Act in July, the states are allowed to regulate the amount of parking fees themselves or leave this to the municipalities.

The Baden-Württemberg Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) did not want to finally comment on the Tübingen decision five days before the federal election: “I do not judge that, these are communal matters.” Cities and communities would have to decide for themselves whether something like this was necessary.

However, Palmer is "boldly moving forward".

Many large cities in Germany are trying to regain urban space for their citizens, so the Tübingen decision is in line with the trend.

Freiburg is also looking to increase the residents' parking fees to 360 euros.

The details of a possible regulation are still open.

This includes the questions of how an SUV is defined.