The scheme will pay €2 for each journey not taken. Critics have condemned the idea as ‘cosmetic’

The northern French city of Lille wants to trial a scheme that would pay drivers not to use motorways during rush hour.

The scheme, dubbed Ecobonus, aims to cut traffic on major roads at peak times. 

It follows recent, similar trials in the Netherlands and the Paris suburb town of Boulogne-Billancourt, with the latter deciding not to continue the test.  

Lille is aiming to recruit 5,000 volunteers for the experiment, which is set to run from September and last for nine months.

It will compensate drivers by €2 per journey if they do not drive during the hours of: 

07:00 and 09:00

• 16:30 and 18:30

On the roads of: 

• A1 motorway (Paris-Lille) 

• A23 motorway (Valenciennes-Lille).

The idea comes from a similar scheme in 2016, in Rotterdam. 

In a press release, the city of Lille said: “Three months after the end of the trial [in Rotterdam], more than 85% of drivers were still avoiding peak hours to travel.”

The Dutch city managed to reduce motorway traffic by 17%,  figures show. Damien Castelain, president of the Métropole de Lille (Mel)  added: “Even if we manage to reduce the traffic by 6%, that will be enough to get it flowing.”

The A1 motorway in particular currently sees 12,000 vehicles per hour at peak times.

The green party in the Mel has condemned the idea, calling it “cosmetic and illusionary, based on a false idea: that people caught in traffic during rush hour can suddenly do something different if you pay them €2 per journey”.

They added: “The scheme in Rotterdam used video to identify and check 12,000 participants, and reached 5,000 journeys avoided per day on average. But the ecology ministry has said that this isn’t feasible in France.