Paris will charge for motorcycle parking, stirring protest from the biker community
Paris will charge for motorcycle parking, stirring protest from the biker community
Starting in September, Parisian biker Isabelle Lebret and other motorcyclists will have to pay to park in the street. Three bucks for the first hour, nearly $40 for the day.
Like many cities around the world, Paris has made it a lot more expensive to park a car. But motorcycle, scooter and moped users have always been allowed to park for free. Not anymore.
“You find a space, park and pay, keying in your license plate number on a phone app. If you don’t, they send you a fine,” she said, speaking in French.
Lebret joined a recent demonstration against parking charges on motorized two-wheelers that was organized by a group called Angry Bikers. Its president, Jean-Marc Belotti, said motorcycles and cars should be treated differently.
“Look at the cars around us. One person in each. We take up so much less space — between a third and a quarter. We get people from A to B quicker and use less gas because we’re so light,” he said, speaking in French.
Paris’ municipality that’s introducing the measure did not respond to requests for a comment about the change. But Tony Renucci, head of the anti-air pollution group Respire (translated as Breathe), said he backs the new parking fees.
“It’s a good measure if its aim is to give more space for pedestrians and reduce air pollution because they want to make people less willing to use their motorbikes,” he said.
Opinion polls show Parisians like City Hall’s anti-car measures. Many like this new anti-motorbike measure too. Including Jean-Pascal Revenusso, whom I talked to while he waited for a bus.
“We share the roads, we share the parking space, so we should share the parking fees. It’s a form of equality,” he said, speaking in French.
Motorcycle use has risen sharply in Paris in recent years as people try to beat the traffic jams. Some may now switch to public transportation, as city officials would like. Others might just go back to their slower, but safer, cars.
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