Calls for SUV drivers to pay higher parking fees to fight pollution

There are calls for drivers of certain cars in one Aussie city to pay more for parking in an effort to tackle pollution.

There are calls online for Aussie SUV drivers to be charged more for parking due to their size, weight and motor, in a move that would follow recently announced plans in one global city.

Earlier this month, Paris councillors passed a motion that would impose higher parking fees on owners of SUVs in an effort to reduce car pollution in the French capital.

Under the new rules, fees will be charged depending on the car’s size, weight and motor, but electric vehicles (EV) and cars needing to carry bigger families are expected to avoid the boosted fees, The Guardian reports.

Announcing the measures, deputy mayor David Belliard said SUVs were “incongruous in an urban environment” and the measure aimed to tackle “the inexorable growth in the weight and size of vehicles circulating in our cities”.

SUV sales in Australia have surged in recent years.

He hoped more expensive parking would encourage people to buy lighter vehicles.

Now, Aussies have taken to Reddit to call for Melbourne to adopt a similar approach.

A post, which referenced the Guardian’s article, read: “This is what Melbourne needs immediately”.

“The auto-besity here is sickening and incomparably higher than Paris … Reminder: In Australia over 50 per cent of newly sold vehicles are SUVs.”

Paris has passed a motion for SUVs to be charged more for parking.

The Guardian reported that same statistic, adding that the share of SUV ownership in Australia has almost doubled over the past decade — as has the amount of cash car-markers have thrown at advertising SUVs and utes.

And more than 40 per cent of Australians who owned a car manufactured since 2021 had an SUV.

The higher environmental footprint of SUVs was laid bare in 2020, when the International Energy Agency found SUVs were the second largest cause of the global rise in carbon dioxide emissions over the past decade.

Their CO2 levels eclipsed those from all shipping, aviation and heavy industry, the report revealed.

Comments on the Reddit post were fiercely divided on whether Melbourne should follow in Paris’ footsteps.

One owner of “a kei car and a sub-1t hatchback” said they would welcome the move.

Another comment read: “It’s about incentivising people to choose the smallest possible car for their requirements, rather than the ‘bigger is better’ mentality that leads to more dangerous, packed and damaged roads for everyone”.

The debate comes as US-style pick-up trucks are booming in popularity Down Under.

And several people went as far to suggest registration costs should also be determined by the size and weight of a vehicle.

But one person said the size of cars was not the issue in Melbourne — it was the volume of them.

“Want to reduce congestion and have less wear and tear on roads? Improve the infrastructure for other modes of transport,” they wrote.

Another comment doubted the measure would be enough of a disincentive for people from choosing bigger cars over more compact ones.

And one recent trend suggest they could be right.

Sales of monster US-style pick-up trucks have booming in Australia in recent years, infuriating locals and causing havoc by taking up multiple parking spaces per vehicle.

General Motors Specialty Vehicles (GMSV) figures proved huge US vehicles – like the RAM 1500 and Chevrolet’s Silverado – exploded in popularity in 2021.

This surge in demand has seen other car giants sit up and take notice, with one of America’s best-selling vehicles – the Ford F-150 pick-up – on its way to Australian shores this year, followed by the expected arrival of the Toyota Tundra in late 2023 or early 2024.

— With Alexis Carey