The Sydney Morning Herald reported on February 6 that parking operators are introducing preferential parking for owners of hybrid vehicles. According to the report, “three Sydney Westfield shopping centres now have hybrid-only parking spots, while councils such as Randwick offer priority places for hybrids and Mosman waves its $55 residential parking permit fee for the vehicles”.
Whilst generally seen as a good move by environmentalists, stating that this may be a small step in influencing purchase decision-making, car industry insiders say hybrids are being unfairly singled out as the only ”green” choice, despite some of them producing higher CO2 emissions per kilometre than some vehicles powered solely by petrol.
PCI thinks it’s definitely a step in the right direction! Perhaps in the future, not only could driving infringements be determined by your income (see our previous post, Parking fines determined by your income), this could also be extended to preferential parking rates determined on how fuel and carbon-efficient vehicles are.