[Article] SUV resident parking fees set to double in Dublin

Victor

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/frontpage/2007/0122/1169247615958.html

SUV resident parking fees set to double in Dublin
Olivia Kelly

Drivers of SUVs (sports utility vehicles) and other big cars are to be charged twice as much for parking outside their own homes as drivers of smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, under proposed new Dublin City Council bylaws.

Owners of vehicles with an engine size of 2,000cc and over will have to pay a "premium rate" resident parking fee of €80 a year or €140 for two years, while those with engines under 2,000cc will pay a standard rate of €40 or €70 for two years, in areas subject to pay-and-display or permit parking.

The higher rate would apply to all SUVs and to most so-called "people carriers", but not to average family cars which usually have an engine size under 1,600cc.

Currently, residents in areas where parking is controlled pay annual permit fees of €35 or €65 for a two-year permit, regardless of the size of their vehicle.

The council management is recommending the change to the 2005 parking control bylaws, on foot of several proposals from city councillors, specifically to discourage the use of SUVs in the city.

In his report - to come before councillors this week - executive manager of the roads and traffic department Tim O'Sullivan recommends that the current bylaws that do not differentiate between sizes of vehicles should be amended.

"A large sports utility vehicle is charged at the same rate as the most economical small car.

"In order to encourage the use of smaller cars, which require less parking space and are generally more fuel-efficient, a premium rate resident permit charge is recommended."

The council's proposal mirrors the recent decision of a local authority in London to triple its residential parking fee on anti-pollution grounds.

Richmond council's charge is based on carbon dioxide emissions and will hit vehicles of 1,600cc engine size and above. It could result in SUV owners there paying £300 (€457) for their annual permits.

Although Dublin City Council's proposed fee is significantly lower, it marks the beginning of a crack-down on environmentally unsound high-fuel-consumption cars, with the Government's plans to change the way vehicle registration tax (VRT) is calculated.

From 2008, VRT will be based on a vehicle's CO2 emissions. This will penalise owners of SUVs and other high-consumption cars.

While the permit changes are the most significant element of the new bylaws, a modest increase in city centre hourly on-street parking charges from €2.50 to €2.70 in the central "yellow zone" and €2.00 to €2.20 in the "red zone" is also proposed.

The amended bylaws will come before the council's traffic and transport committee on Thursday and will then be put out to public consultation before they become law.

Drax

This is a great move and one that will hopefully be mirrored by other councils. Its about time mummy and little Johnny learned that she doesn't need a bus to transport her one little precious to school. Also it sends out a good message that someone at least is making steps to a cleaner environment.

Seth Brundle

The headline is misleading - its not just SUVs - its anything over 2L which would include many cars, etc.
Why should engine size dictate the cost of parking? Many large cars have small engines and vice versa!
As for using pollution as an excuse - surely then it should be emission based not cc based as the two are not directly proportional. Most new engines are much cleaner than smaller but older engines!

hmmm

Taxes like this are just a proxy tool for allowing civil servants to indulge in class warfare and the politics of envy. Remember the uproar about the tax breaks for the hybrid SUV? If as Kbannon says this was truly about the environment, they would tax based on emissions - it's not really, it's about taxing those who have money.

A big reduction in emissions would be achieved if the government sector gave up its parking spaces in the city centre and turned the areas into parkland. Dail Eireann Green anyone?

OTK

How many city centre parking places does Dublin council provide to its staff under the Civic Offices? How much does it cost a civil servant to park a car there compared to a SUV?

mike65

hmmm, you have it in a nutshell. Anton Savage said the same on Today FM just now.

Mike.

dudara

Agree with the point raised by a previous poster - engine size is more related to carbon emissions than it is to the actual physical footprint of the car.

Secondly, increasing the fee to E80 is laughable. That's just pennies.

Bee

hmmm wrote:

Taxes like this are just a proxy tool for allowing civil servants to indulge in class warfare and the politics of envy. Remember the uproar about the tax breaks for the hybrid SUV? If as Kbannon says this was truly about the environment, they would tax based on emissions - it's not really, it's about taxing those who have money.

A big reduction in emissions would be achieved if the government sector gave up its parking spaces in the city centre and turned the areas into parkland. Dail Eireann Green anyone?

Once again it is a punitive tax on inner city residents. If DCC did anything to encourage less use of the school run by positive action e.g. subsidised mini-buses for those like me who drop my neighbours and my own (6 kids, 5 to 6 mile trip) to school instead of cynically bringing in new taxes, of which I am not ashamed to say I can easily afford then it might actually mean something.

I used to be surprised by moronic decisions by the likes of Tim O'Sullivan but he and his ilk are really showing their incompetence when there are now many 2000 CC and larger diesels with lower emmisions and greater MPG than small engined more polluting petrol cars.

I assume they want to increase stealth taxes to pay for the next round of bench marking. Whoops I forgot don't we who work at jobs that generate a profit pay for these fools wages anyway!

BrandonBlock

Lol what a joke, you can get SUVs less than 2000cc, and you can get cars over 2000c (some ford mondeos, mercedes, bmws, jaguars, etc) Typical Irish way of reacting to problems as they arise, rather than try to prevent them at source.

Ham'nd'egger

Toyota RAV 4, Hyunda Santa Fe, Honda CR-V and Land Rover Discovery are the 3 most common SUV's in Ireland and all come in under the 2 Litre mark under most of their engine variants, so this "charge" is a total waste of time. Bee is correct when she says that a charge should be made on a petrol engine over diesel if they want to be more "green". Realistically, a charge like that will be eaten up in the courts so tis a non runner.

If they want to make a difference in emissions in both CO and CO2, ban petrol cars altogether which are more noxious than Diesel, not to mention far less efficient and begin to edge up industrial fuels to encourage the big burners to economise a bit more. That and rip into fuel taxes big time to try lessen people in short trips (such as bringing the brats to school etc) and fuel wasting.

lostexpectation

they should put up the price on non-work 4x4s aswell, with suv its not just hte size of the engine but the height of the bumper thats the problem for those stupids mom that think it'll protect their kids.

so this is residents only in front of their house, but not on general street parking?

cast_iron

The only part of the plan which is related to parking is to do with the car size.

Emissions and engine size should have nothing to do with paying for a car parking space. That's like trying to justify an increase in bin charges to give you a better water service.

There is a very thin relation between large engines and large cars though. But in practice, I can't see them reducing the car spaces due to a €40 extra charge to large vehicle owners.

D'Peoples Voice

cast_iron wrote:

The only part of the plan which is related to parking is to do with the car size.

I agree and being someone who cycles in Dublin city, I'd love to see SUV's in housing estates absolutely hammered with taxes. They are a death trap for cyclists, not just because they seriously impair your view of kids crossing, relative to a car, but the drivers of these vehicles don't seem to be able to get over their massive blind spot areas.
I know cyclists don't help themsleves either, I STILL in 2007 see students cycling to and from UCD on dark evenings and not bothering to wear a luminous jacket because it's not cool. Can't wait until one of them is knocked over by a SUV, and then I can go over and spit on the scumbag:D they give fellow cyclists a bad name.

Wez

It's the same as they did with cigarettes, they bring in a small increase and claim it's to help us, but it's not big enough to have a shock value that'd actually put people off, but when you do the maths and see how many people and how many times this small fee's paid it adds up to be alot of money for the government!

All the policies the government bring in that they make sound like they're for a better environment and better health are purely a way of them making more money! Think about it, if they said they're gonna raise the price of cigarettes by a fiver, making them like a tenner a pack, then it could have an effect. But the way they do it is add on a small charge consistently, and then when people adjust and are used to this, they do it again, eventually bringing it to whatever price they wanted in the first place, but people aren't complaining half as much!

People seem to be scared of the government and their policies, but realistically, they should be scared of the people! We're the ones who can get rid of them!

Victor

D'Peoples Voice wrote:

Can't wait until one of them is knocked over by a SUV, and then I can go over and spit on the scumbag:D they give fellow cyclists a bad name.

Eh, relax please.