The French government has introduced an incentive scheme to get more people to cycle to work in an effort to reduce air pollution by getting more cars of the roads.
The scheme will run for six months. If successful, the government will introduce a second experiment on a larger scale, reports Reuters. Under the scheme, cyclists will receive 25 euro cents per kilometre cycled to work. Some 20 companies and institutions employing a total of 10,000 people have already signed up.
Several other countries have bike-to-work schemes, including the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Belgium and Britain, explains Reuters. In Belgium, which has had tax-free bike incentive scheme for the past five years, around 8 per cent of all people commute by bicycle, while in the Netherlands that number is around 25 per cent. In Britain, commuters can get a tax-free loan with which to buy a new bike, according to the Environmental Transport Association.
City bike-loan schemes – such as the Velib in Paris and Citi Bike in New York – have also played a large role in boosting bicycle commuting.
Photo credit: Luca Perino/Creative Commons
