Like other major cities, Paris has extremely high levels of urban mobility. An analysis of the rotation rate in the different housing sectors and in business relocations suggests that approximately 135,000 removal operations take place every year in the capital. 20% to 30% of these are carried out by professionals.
But moving in Paris is sometimes a challenge for anyone trying to abide by the law.
Parking conditions tops the list of problems encountered. A survey carried out in conjunction with five Parisian removal firms shows that in 40% of operations, removal men are confronted with parking problems (no spaces or ones too small, having to park more than twenty metres from the building, etc.) and in 25% of these cases, they are obliged to park illegally, either double parking or parking on the pavement.
The public nuisance caused by these parking problems affect firstly the removal men, be they professionals or individuals, but also local inhabitants, pedestrians, motorists and more generally Parisians as a whole.
The current administrative system does not provide a satisfactory answer to these difficulties. Parking authorisations issued by Police Headquarters when a move takes place do not enable you to reserve a parking space. They are granted subject to compliance with the Highway Code, but are only requested to avoid a parking ticket and do not make parking any easier.
Finding themselves in a similar position, several French towns have, in recent years, managed to modernise the administrative management of removals. In the Paris region, this is the case in Versailles, Montreuil or Neuilly-sur-Seine and in the provinces Rennes, Strasbourg, Toulouse and Lyon. In Lyon, the system in place since 2003 enables individuals and professionals to obtain a temporary permit allowing them to reserve a 20-metre parking space for a ½ day to 3 day period. A service provider appointed by the City of Lyon places non-removable signboards (weighing 350kg) to delimit the parking space.
With the examples set by Lyon and other French towns, it appears pertinent today for Paris to adopt a system for reserving on-street parking space to enable companies and individuals to organise their moves more efficiently. On a proportional basis compared to Lyon, it is estimated that 60,000 authorisations would be requested annually at a unit cost of 50 euros (idem Lyon). The system, based on reserving a parking space and placing temporary warning signs, would require both human and material resources. Estimates are put forward in the study, but several issues still need to be addressed. They concern the implementation of a single point of interface between the City of Paris and Police Headquarters, the processing time for applications, which should not exceed two weeks if the service is to be efficient and ways in which to remove any offending vehicles.