anger among motorbike and scooter users, now forced to pay for parking
“We have to get out of this exemption, which scooters and motorcycles have finally proven. It is a difficult measure, which requires a significant effort but which is essential for the follow-up and the fight against pollution”, recalls David Belliard, deputy (EELV) for mobility and the transformation of public space at the city of Paris.
3 euros per hour
Air pollution, noise pollution but also “better balance of public space” or even migration towards “less polluting and softer mobility”, are all arguments put forward for the application of a measure that is debating for several years.
Thursday, to park his motorized two-wheeler (2RM) in the streets of Paris, you have to pay a payment if it is a thermal vehicle. In the center of the capital, parking costs 3 euros per hour compared to 2 euros in the outer districts. It is possible to benefit from a residential rate: the annual card is worth 22.50 euros per year, plus 0.75 euros per day of parking. A professional pass is also offered and free is applied for electric PTWs and for disabled PTWs. But for all, it is compulsory to register on an online site, open at the end of June. By Tuesday, some 10,250 requests had been granted, according to the town hall.
“Really discriminating”
Others have already opted for electric motorized two-wheelers – the manager of a small electric 2WD store in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris said he sold around sixty units in the last week alone.
For the Federation of Angry Bikers (FFCM), the measure is “really discriminatory, especially for the poorest who live in the suburbs”. “Housing in Paris has become so expensive that people are exporting further and further. The most affected are the suburbanites. It’s a real social problem, they can’t cycle 40 km, ”notes the Île-de-France delegate of the FFMC, Jean-Marc Belotti.
The FFMC, which organized 18 demonstrations in one and a half against the measure, launched a petition which collected some 41,700 signatures on Wednesday evening. “In the resistance”, the FFMC is for the moment “not in the negotiation” and plans a demonstration Saturday noon in front of the town hall of Paris. An appeal to the administrative court was filed last September to annul the decree.