Drivers of oversized SUVs and utes should pay higher parking fees in a bid to get them off Sydney roads, as concern grows about the environmental impact and safety of big cars.
NSW Greens transport spokeswoman Cate Faehrmann said “the size of SUVs is getting ridiculous” and backed measures to discourage large vehicles as long as people who require them for work are not penalised.
“Big SUVs are taking up a lot more road space, including when they’re parked, so if higher parking fees make a few drivers catch the train or ride their bike instead then bring it on,” she said.
A Melbourne council will vote on a proposal to charge the owners of big cars more for parking.Credit: Joe Armao
Faehrmann’s support for higher parking fees for big vehicles comes as Yarra City Council in Melbourne prepares to vote this week on a proposal to “consider proportionate parking fees based on a vehicle’s size”.
Yarra Greens councillor Sophie Wade’s motion said the increasing size and weight of vehicles such as Ram trucks and the Land Rover Defender pose dangers to pedestrians including children, who are “eight times more likely to die when hit by a SUV compared to a normal passenger car”.
Wade’s motion also said larger cars are more polluting and have a greater climate impact.
“If SUVs were a country, they would rank as the sixth-most polluting in the world,” it said.
Parisians last month voted to triple parking fees for large SUVs to €18 ($29.65) an hour for the first two hours, compared to €6 an hour for smaller cars.
Faehrmann said big SUVs take up space and are more dangerous to other road users, including pedestrians and cyclists, whether they are electric or not.
“To encourage the take-up of EVs there does need to be more incentives because of the higher comparative purchase price, so an exemption or discount for EVs should be considered,” she said.
But measures that make it more expensive for people to drive need to ensure those who need a larger vehicle for work are not penalised, Faehrmann said.
“One option could be for charges to be based on postcode, given many western Sydney residents have no choice but to drive because of the lack of public transport services,” she said.
Calls for higher charges on large cars come as more drivers opt for bigger vehicles, with surging sales fuelled by tax breaks.
SUVs and light commercial vehicles including utes made up three-quarters of new vehicles sold in Australia in 2022 – up from 45 per cent a decade ago.
Standards Australia last year proposed increasing the required length of off-street parking spaces by 20 centimetres to accommodate larger vehicles.
The federal opposition, meanwhile, has attacked the Albanese government’s new fuel efficiency standards, claiming it could raise the cost of utes to unaffordable levels.
A City of Sydney spokesman said the council had no plans to hike parking fees on bigger cars.
Randwick Greens Mayor Philipa Veitch said she was open to all options to discourage the use of oversized SUVs, which “are clogging up our roads and are a menace for pedestrians and cyclists”.
“Their fuel efficiency standards are appalling, and the carbon and particulate pollution they cause has terrible impacts on the health of our community and our environment,” she said.
Woollahra Greens councillor Nicola Grieve said super-sized cars trying to squeeze into narrow roads is a problem in inner-city Sydney.
But Grieve said the climate crisis was a graver problem and called for the phasing out of petrol and diesel cars.
“Any increase in parking fees must include triggers to reduce CO2 emissions,” she said. “Basing a charge on weight alone will perversely discourage the switch to EVs as they are heavier due to their batteries.”
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