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PRIME MINISTER SUGGESTS RAISING PENALTIES AS ONE WAY TO HELP FUND MAJOR PARIS PUBLIC TRANSPORT PROJECT PARKING fines could be doubled to €30 or even €35 under proposals to be looked at by

the government as it looks at ways to fund improvements in public transport. Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault revealed the proposal in discussions on Grand Paris, the new global plan for the

Paris metropolitan region. This includes a new transport network called Grand Paris Express, which will have 200km of new rail lines linking 72 stations. The plan dates from the Sarkozy era

and is estimated to cost €30billion – 50% more than the previous estimates – and Ayrault said the government was looking at ways to help local authorities fund this. Raising parking fines

from the present €17 would be one method. However, motoring lawyer Jean-Baptiste Le Dall said the project could have wide-ranging implications. If the funds were for a project in

Ile-de-France then there was no need to raise fines across France – where such high fines were not justified – and if the fines were levied only in the Paris region they would no longer be

“equitable” across the country in the eyes of the law. Fines could have to be “depenalised” (taken outside the criminal justice system) to be legal – which would open the floodgates for

private operators to be brought in to boost local authorities’ revenues. Graphic: Grand Paris