Gérard, 74, puts a room in the parking meter. He has a race to do on Rue Royale, in Calais (Pas-de-Calais). “We are entitled to half an hour! He underlines. Soon, he will no longer need to pay the parking meter at all: from June, parking will be free in the city. A countdown of many municipalities, which on the contrary tend to increase the prices or to generalize the paid areas – like Lille, Toulouse or Nantes and Strasbourg.
“Metropolitan policy is rather to chase away cars and get everyone paying,” says Natacha Bouchart, the mayor of Calais. “But here we are in an average city!” So we try to bring people for our merchants. What matters to me is the activity of shops and the attractiveness of the city center. The councilor deplores the drop in store attendance. “Large areas and commercial areas offer free parking lots. People get used to it and no longer come to the center. »»