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Voters in Paris have approved an effort to drastically increase parking fees for large sport utility vehicles and other heavy cars, the latest move by Mayor Anne Hidalgo to reshape the French capital with environmentally conscious and pedestrian-friendly policies.
The new parking fees are expected to be approved in May by the Paris City Council, where Ms. Hidalgo’s Socialist Party and Green allies have a majority. The new fees are then expected to come into effect in September, Ms. Hidalgo said.
Some car owners have complained that they are being shut out of the capital, but Ms. Hidalgo was unrepentant at a news conference on Sunday night. “Parisians made a clear choice,” she said, adding that, “We are very proud of this result.”
Still, turnout was extremely low. While some 54.5 percent of Parisians voted in favor of the measure, only about 5.7 percent of eligible voters went to the polls.
Although much of the public debate was focused on S.U.V.s, or sport utility vehicles, the new fees will apply to all cars that weigh more than 1.6 metric tons if they have traditional combustion engines or are hybrids, or more than two metric tons if they are electric.
Those vehicles will have to pay 18 euros, a little more than $19, per hour of public parking in central Paris, and 12 euros in the French capital’s outer neighborhoods — triple the normal rate.
But there are several exemptions, so the measure will mostly apply to outside visitors.
Paris residents who park in their neighborhood will not be affected. Neither will taxis or other professional vehicles, or people who use larger vehicles because of a disability.
The city authorities had argued that big S.U.V.s and other large cars emit more greenhouse gases than average-size cars and are more dangerous for pedestrians because of their bulkiness.
Ms. Hidalgo’s centrist and right-wing opponents said in a statement that the referendum’s low turnout and slim results were a “disavowal” of the mayor and that the price increase would keep large families and newer, cleaner S.U.V.s out of the capital.
“With this P.R. stunt, the mayor of Paris is merely seeking to draw attention away from her disastrous record,” the statement said.
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