Parking had always been free on rue Corentin-Carré. So, in this small street located not far from the Rennes women's prison, parking was sometimes complicated, if not impossible. Located very close to the Jacques-Cartier metro station and not far from the train station, the residential street regularly saw cars from outside the neighborhood arrive, which the drivers parked there before taking the metro or train. But that was before.
Over the last year, parking has become paid. “We are not far from the station, so we often had the problem of cars staying there for a long time. Sometimes it was difficult to find space. Now that it has become paid, we can always find parking,” says Ghislaine, who leaves her house by bike. So much for the positive. But everything is not perfect, according to the Rennaise. “We used to park the car in front of our garage but we can't do that anymore. The most annoying thing is that you have to pay a subscription every month. It’s still an additional indirect tax,” regrets Ghislaine, who pays 14 euros per month for her car.
Rue Corentin-Carré is not the only one affected. Each year, the city of Rennes expands the scope of paid parking: + 1,200 spaces in 2022, + 900 spaces in 2023 and + 700 spaces this year. “We are obliged to act, particularly near transport hubs such as train stations or metro stations. We do it at the request of residents because they can no longer find somewhere to park,” explains the mobility assistant for the city of Rennes, Valérie Faucheux.
Watch out for the most vulnerable
The problem is that by expanding the perimeter, French municipalities end up affecting working-class neighborhoods, in which the standard of living is sometimes very low. To “not penalize the most modest”, the city of Rennes has therefore just implemented solidarity pricing on December 1: it is proposing a reduction of 50 to 85% in the resident rate for the green zone only (the cheapest, excluding city center). “We aligned ourselves with the award criteria used in public transport,” continues the Rennes elected official.
The Breton capital is not the first in France to apply this solidarity pricing (but the second a priori). In 2023, it was neighboring Nantes which innovated by launching a reduced subscription based on the family quotient, after having doubled the surface area of paid parking. “We did it district by district to make life easier for local residents. We have taken care not to penalize those who work by setting up rates for construction craftsmen and health professionals. And we added solidarity pricing so as not to disadvantage the most vulnerable,” explains Denis Tallédec, parking assistant at the city of Nantes. Four variations exist from 18 to 126 euros per year (compared to 180 euros for normal pricing). “We would have even wanted to do it for our underground car parks but the law prohibits us from doing so, because it considers that the people there are customers, not residents.”
A quarter of subscribers are at the “solidarity” rate
According to the Nantes elected official, this choice of solidarity pricing is of interest well beyond the borders of historic Brittany. “We have been questioned a lot by other cities who are thinking about it.” In Nantes, 25% of the 20,000 parking subscribers benefit from solidarity pricing. A shortfall not yet quantified but which is fully assumed by the municipality of Johanna Rolland. “When I took office, we had a million vehicles circulating in Nantes every day. With demographics, projections brought us to 1.25 million in 2035. This is no longer tenable. By acting on our mobility, we have an impact on the climate, on the health, on the well-being of residents. We must support them so that they change their practices but in a positive way. If we want people to give up their cars, we have to offer them an alternative,” explains Denis Tallédec.
And if, like us, you are looking for the link between solidarity pricing for parking and abandoning the car, we will try to enlighten you. By reserving parking on public roads for residents only, the cities of Nantes and Rennes want to reduce access for vehicles coming from outside. For those who do not live there, it is recommended to park in a park and ride and use public transport or use underground car parks. Thus leaving freer space for city residents to park near their homes. Time will tell if it works.
