Triple parking fees for SUVs
A controversial proposal that large SUVs and utes should be charged three times the regular parking rate in Sydney CBD was voted down on Monday, but Greens councillors have vowed to raise the issue again.
City of Sydney councillor Matthew Thompson made a notice of motion, calling on council executives to investigate tripling the city parking rate for large SUVs and trucks – raising it to nearly $25 per hour.
“As a council we don’t have the power to literally tax SUVs, although I wish,” he said at the meeting. “So we’re asking council staff to investigate what other levers we can pull at the local level to get these killers off our streets and to keep our community safe.”
NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury said “the NRMA is opposed” to the suggested rate hike, calling it “absurd”.
“It would be absurd to triple the parking rates for utes and SUVs, when nine out 10 of the top selling cars in Australia are SUVs or commercial utes,” Mr Khoury told Open Road. “The NRMA just put out a report last month outlining the cost of how expensive it is to park in the CBD.”
He added that tripling parking fees would harm city businesses, which were left reeling following COVID lockdowns, and affect those least able to pay.
— Peter Khoury
He also took issue with the council pointing to similar measures in France, which were introduced after a referendum.
“Sydney isn’t Paris, and Australia isn’t France,” Mr Khoury said. “The driving conditions here are very different, and that’s why you’re seeing these sort of purchases.”
The councillors who supported Mr Thompson’s proposal claimed large SUVs and utes were dangerous and ‘gas guzzlers’, but Mr Khoury claimed these are “myths”.
“The newer ones, especially the hybrids, are very fuel efficient. They also have five-star ANCAP safety ratings, not just for the occupants but for other road users. Saying they’re dangerous is a myth.”
