From 1 April 2023 the city of Nantes will set up a special parking system. Residents will pay more or less for parking depending on their income.
A first in France that will not fail to make people react. In Nantes (Loire-Atlantique), the municipality has decided to adjust the price of the parking, by annual subscription, to the different incomes of local residents.
Host of the show Carlo Morning on RMC, Denis Talledec, councilor for traffic and parking of Nantes, first of all recalled that this new measure will not lead to “an increase in the price of the season ticket, which has not changed since 2015”.
However, “depending on income, people will get a 30 to 50% reduction” on their annual membership amount depending on their wage income.
“Currently the full subscription is € 180 per year. For example, for a person with an income of € 1,800 / month, this will make a 30% reduction and pay only € 126 per year,” explains Denis Talledec.
Parking for visitors will also be more expensive
To explain this decision, Denis Talledec explains that his municipality responds to questions above all “ecological, it is a question of decarbonising the atmosphere. There are also health problems, there are 47,000 deaths every year from fine dust pollution ”.
On this issue of ecological challenge, the city councilor specifies that “parking is a lever to encourage people to change mobility”. For residents of the city of Nantes who own a vehicle, the aim is therefore to charge much less for parking in order to encourage them to take public transport with the aim of reducing CO2 and particulate emissions.
On the part of motorists who do not reside in the Nantes municipality, the policy will be stricter there. Denis Talledec argues that the city of Nantes “encourages visitors to stay outdoors by increasing parking rates. This is to the advantage of the residents so that they can find a parking space closer to their residence ”.
Another issue that touches the powers of the municipal councilor: low emission zones (ZFE). Nantes is one of those cities that will implement, from 1 January 2025, traffic restrictions for the most polluting vehicles.
“We are working on the different criteria for the creation of the ZFE. (…) It is a matter of accompanying the change of practices for the benefit of public transport and soft mobility, to encourage people to use their cars less ”, Denis Talledec believes.
According to the Nantes city councilor for traffic and parking, “deadlines are very tight” and “things have to go right,” he says cautiously.
