Parking in Toulouse. “Lapi is PV sulfate”: Odile Maurin takes town hall to court

Held since mid-August at Toulousesystem lapi much talked about in the Pink City. Behind this name hides a formidable weapon against parking violations.

Cars equipped with cameras make PV rain

Lapis is indeed possible automatic control of license plates. Two vehicles equipped with cameras circulated the streets of Toulouse to check whether motorists had managed to park them correctly between the multiple vehicles. 16,300 paid seats.

While non-payment of parking has become something of a national sport in Toulouse (30% of drivers paid for parking before the act’s launch, according to figures submitted by city hall), with Lapi, motorists are thus strongly encouraged to pay for their parking, otherwise they will fined “post parking package” in the amount of 30 euros.

PV also increased sharply in Pink City. In September 2022, 35,322 FPS issued for 90,533 examinations were performed. In comparison, around 160,000 Post-Park Forfaits were issued in 2021 and in 2019, 260,000 FPS were issued.

Two appeals were filed

But does the system discriminate against persons with disabilities? This is what makes sure Odile Maurin, President of HandiSocial and elected opposition members of the city councilwho decided to attack the City of Toulouse and more generally the Lapi system in court.

his lawyer, Mr. David Nabetexplained: “I deposited with Odile Maurin and his associates two appeals. The first appeal in the state administrative court for excess power to the deliberations of the municipal council that installed the Lapi and determined the conditions for its application regarding persons with disabilities and or the elderly who have a CMI card (mobility inclusion card). In line with this classic administrative appeal, we submitted a request to submit a priority question of constitutionality (QPC)”, said the lawyer from the Toulouse bar.

“SPF Sulfurator”

The QPC makes it possible to refer directly to the Constitutional Council, either to have a legal provision declared unconstitutional, or to request an interpretation reservation. This is the second option chosen by Odile Maurin and his lawyers. The latter launched: “The Lapi is SPF sulfate who do not respect basic rights”.

“For the City, this saves time and money: pays less officers and more than doubles the amount of fines and receipts. According to the information I got from the city government, the number is four times that! “, continued Me David Nabet, who remembered this in the law, ” free parking for people with mobility difficulties. Odile Maurin: “Why is it free? Precisely because legislators are acutely aware of the fact that parking meters are inaccessible and this adds an unfair obstacle.”

“It’s forbidding the city for those who are in trouble”

Lapi, “definitely forbids the city for people who have the most difficulty moving there”, reports Odile Maurin who. “In every city, you have to register in the database (so that your vehicle is registered and not fined, Editors note), walking on inaccessible parking meters, using apps that also violate privacy rights. Registration is for one vehicle only. That ignores the facts!“, said the president of the HandiSocial association, who was concerned about the increase in the number of minutes distributed to persons with disabilities. “But for now, city hall isn’t giving out figures,” he lamented.

“For three years, the city hall has had a lot of time to challenge the State, which must ensure that the system implemented in cities complies with the basic rights of persons with disabilities. strength !”

“They have to check all violating vehicles!” »

Odile Maurin proposes an alternative to the current system. “With Lapi, there’s no getting in the way there of being the agent that inspects all vehicles caught trespassing! What’s the point? Reveal as many people as possible, including those who are wrong, or implement a system that is of course a little less efficient but at least has the benefit of respecting the basic rights of persons with disabilities”, asked the association manager.

“They should have checked all the violating vehicles, but only those registered in the PMR database, from a smartphone, from a parking meter. That’s a small minority. In fact, these checks are not carried out systematically due to a shortage of agents! “, Odile Maurin assured again.

“The law stipulates that this FPS will feed the metropolitan coffers to finance public transport policies and cycling policies. By doing things hastily, they jeopardized an under-resourced policy and made the situation worse! I find it very serious! We invented greenwashing, the Jean-Luc Moudenc method: we make a statement of intent but we don’t give ourselves any concrete means to implement effective policies”.

“The usual buzz shot”, replied Emilion Esnault

On the city hall side, we don’t say it “not surprised” by action led by Odile Maurin (who had announced his intentions at the last city council). “Odile Maurin is familiar with the procedure and buzz shot“, formulated Emilion Esnault, deputy mayor in charge of security and who piloted the launch of the Lapi system in Toulouse. He decried Odile Maurin’s “very personal interpretation” of Lapi.

“We set up this system to improve control and ensure better compliance with parking times, for better vehicle rotation. With Lapi, parking is easier, including for regular residents. Therefore, it also benefits people with limited mobility, who cannot always park in the blue spaces, which are limited in number,” said Emilion Esnault.

1500 people with limited mobility registered vehicles

“Two constructive meetings were held before the launch with associations representing persons with disabilities and we conducted an initial assessment with them at the end of November,” said the deputy mayor. The chosen one got involved: “We are aware that picking up tickets is binding. Therefore we have arranged three applications to allow dematerialization of PMR tickets. Each app has its own ergonomics and different accessibility options.”

According to city hall, 1,500 people with reduced mobility Submit a vehicle list request. “They just need to put their cards on the dashboard, like before! added Emilion Esnault.

“We followed all the recommendations”

The elected official explained: “To prepare the Lapi device, we followed all the recommendations issued by Cnil and Gart (the group of authorities responsible for transportation). In addition, every time a driver takes a PMR ticket, the agent is in charge of checking whether the card (free justification, editor) has been entered. But what Odile Maurin has to offer is simply unthinkable! “.

Elected officials also recalled that if something goes wrong or forgets a card, a person with limited mobility can challenge the fine and be reimbursed. “We will take stock in a few months,” concluded Emilion Esnault.

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