Paris 2024 Olympic traffic lanes, similar to those used at the Rio 2016 Games, will be retained by city authorities for use by public transport, taxis and carpooling schemes ©Getty Images

City officials wants to keep the Olympic lanes that will be created for Paris 2024 on the capital's ring road, the Périphérique, for use by public transport, taxis and carpooling schemes.

Transport issues will be eased for the Olympics and Paralympics during a four-week period next year when, as the International Olympic Committee requires, the left-hand lane - one in each direction - on around three-quarters of the 35 kilometres of urban motorway that circles the city will be given over to members of the "Olympic family".

And the Parisian municipality and the state intend to maintain that state of affairs after the Games, AFP and Le Monde report.

As presented, the city plans are to engage the lanes by using white, luminous diamonds that will only be activated between 6:30AM and 11AM and between 3:30PM and 8PM.

The question of whether it will be on during the weekend is not yet decided.

The necessary arrangements - the signage, the network of cameras to detect the plates - are being financed by Solideo, the Olympic delivery company, at a cost of €18.7 million (£16.45 million/$20.5 million). 

Paris will add €5 million (£4.4 million/$5.5 million) for the segment located to the South, between the Porte de Bercy and the Porte de Sèvres, not concerned by the Olympics.

Left-hand lanes allotted to Olympic use on the Paris ring road during the 2024 Games will be retained for public transport and related use, municipal authorities say ©Getty Images
Left-hand lanes allotted to Olympic use on the Paris ring road during the 2024 Games will be retained for public transport and related use, municipal authorities say ©Getty Images

According to the definition used, carpooling concerns any vehicle with at least two people on board.

But given the statistic that of the 1.2 million cars that use the circular ring every day, 82 per cent have only one person, this represents a significant change.

As part of its plans, the municipality announced on Monday that it was inviting online responses to questions over how such a development could be best organised, including suggestions of a 50kph speed limit, an opportunity that will continue until May 28.

Among early reactions is one from Arnaud Desdonner, secretary general of the Association of VTC (transport vehicles with driver) of France, who commented: "It's the death of the VTC [transport vehicles with driver] in Paris."

"As usual, motorised two-wheelers are the big forgotten ones," added Jean-Marc Belotti, the co-ordinator of the Federation of Angry Bikers, who attended the meeting at City Hall with some of his supporters.

But the plans were defended by Emmanuel Grégoire, the first deputy to the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, who said the new routes would "reduce pollution by reducing car traffic". 

"It is a major public health issue.

"This project is absolutely major for the future of the metropolis and constitutes a central element of the legacy of the Olympic Games."