Smart Parking Meters Will Be Charging Your Gas-Guzzler More

There's a new method to cut down on pollution from cars that SUV owners might not be too pleased about. Starting July 1, the city of Madrid will introduce eco-friendly parking meters that charge more for cars that pollute more, and less for more efficient vehicles.

Older vehicles that run on diesel will be charged 20 percent more to park, hybrids will be 20 percent less, and electronic cars will pay nothing.

"We thought it would be fair if the cars that pollute more pay more, and compensate those who use more efficient vehicles," Elisa Barahona, the head of Madrid's sustainability division, told the Guardian.

The scaled prices are also aimed at cutting down on traffic and crowdedness. The “smart” parking meters will calculate how many cars are in a particular area and if it is less than 15 percent empty, drivers will be charged 20 percent more to park. If the parking area has more open spots, cars will be charged less to park there.

Although the price increase is relatively low — city officials say most drivers won’t even notice much of a difference — the measure is designed to quietly encourage drivers to take buses, carpool, or cycle in the city. Much like the minor plastic bag tax in some US cities.

These environmentally friendly parking meters are part of a larger effort to combat Madrid’s notoriously bad air pollution, which has risen by more than 20 percent in the last 20 years. Madrid continuously ranks as the city with the highest pollution levels in Europe, and three quarters of the city’s pollution comes from car emissions. Pollution got so bad in 2011 that city officials issued a smog warning to commuters, after nitrogen dioxide levels were recorded at five times the EU’s safe annual limit.

But the last time Madrid tried to encourage its residents to be more environmentally friendly, it had mixed results. Three years ago, the city invested 72 million euros (more than $100 million) into an electronic car campaign, aiming to have 20,000 new electric vehicles on the road by the end of 2011. By the end of September, there were reportedly only 738 registered electric cars in Madrid, with only 211 for personal use.

A similar system of so-called dynamic pricing for parking already exists elsewhere, including in the US. The Los Angeles Department of Transportation introduced an alternative parking meter system called “ExpressPark” as a trial stage in 2011 in a small area of downtown Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles meter’s prices adjusts according to demand — during rush hour and other peak times the prices increase, and then decrease at times when there is less demand. Prices vary from 50 cents to 6 dollars an hour.

The stated goal of the program, according to its website, is to “increase the availability of public parking spaces and decrease traffic congestion and pollution.” It’s not immediately clear what affect the parking experiment has had on Los Angeles pollution or congestion, a city that continues to have one of the highest concentration of vehicles in the country.

It also remains to be seen if this new initiative will actually cut down on smog in Madrid, or if it will just succeed in pissing off motorists.

Image via Flickr