Since August 1, 2023, parking prices in the city center of Saint-Denis have increased by +25, or even +30%. Sodiparc explains that it wants to invest to revitalize activity in the capital. But users are less convinced.
JCTS / Cynthia Véron • Published on August 3, 2023 at 4:05 p.m., updated on August 3, 2023 at 4:07 p.m.
Since August 1, 2023, if you parked in the city center of Saint-Denis, you may have noticed that the price at the parking meter had increased… An increase “between 25 and 30%“, specifies Gérard Françoise, the president of Sodiparc, which with Citypark manages in global delegation of public service the parking on the capital.
If this increase does not delight users, Sodiparc would like to remind you that the rates had not been increased “since 2015“. Or, “to invest, you also need to have income” says Sodiparc, while defending that the prices it charges are “the cheapest in France compared to cities in the same stratum“.
And these investments that justify the increases, what are they? “There is for example the aCocoparks application to find a parking space“, states Gérard Françoise. Either a tool that should allow users to find an available space in real time, in the city center, or at least in the three streets that have been partially equipped with sensors so far (rue Juliette Dodu , rue Jean Chatel, rue Alexis de Villeneuve), but also in car parks.
The price of parking is increasing in Saint-Denis • ©Cynthia Veron
These car parks have moreover, continues the president of Sodiparc, suffered a “makeover” pour “give them more visibility“.
“30% of our trips in the city center are used to try to find a space, while studies show that overall, there are a hundred spaces available in our car parks at any time”
Gérard Françoise, Chairman of Sodiparc
If the first fifteen minutes of parking remain free, it will be necessary for example, with the new rates, in the orange zone, count 80 euro cents for parking for 16 to 20 minutes, and up to 17 euros if your vehicle remains parked for 3 hours. The increase was also passed on to the price of parking and road subscriptions.
Because according to Gérard Françoise, “the revitalization of the city center also involves the rotation of squares“, and that these are not occupied by the same vehicle for hours.
“We want to promote small errands, push the city center upwards and mobility through public transport“, completes the president of Sodiparc, evoking a figure of “19 million trips per year, 75% of which serve the city center” on the Citalis network operated by Sodiparc.
On the side of users and merchants of the city center, the news does not delight. Paulette, manager in a bakery in Saint-Denis, protests against this “enormous” increase. “30% is colossal. We had this unpleasant surprise, without warning. (…) These are additional costs for the staff, and the customers complain“, she says. “We can find solutions so that it is not systematically the consumer who takes the increases in the figure“, she regrets.
“It’s a blow for us merchants, already that there are not enough car parks, if they increase the price of parking even more, customers will flee the city center even more“, anticipates another trader.
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