Six months ago, in mid-March, three Moselle communities in the north of the department entered into a partnership with the online carpooling platform BlaBlaCar Daily. The principle: residents of the intercommunalities of Cattenom, Sierck-Bouzonville and Metzervisse can be paid to transport passengers in their individual cars.
Financial incentive, how does it work?
As a reminder, here is how the partnership between the three inter-municipal authorities of northern Moselle and BlaBlaCar Daily works.
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Drivers and passengers who register on the BlaBlaCar Daily platform are connected after providing their home and work addresses and their schedule for the week.
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Meeting points are offered.
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The driver receives 2 euros per passenger transported for a journey of 2 to 20 km, 10 additional cents per kilometer between 20 and 30 km, 3 euros (flat rate) beyond 30 km (he is also eligible for a carpooling bonus of 100 euros);
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The passenger pays only 50 cents per journey (the first 10 are free) regardless of the distance, the difference in the cost of the journey being covered by the communities and BlaBlaCar.
This carpooling application – which connects different users – and the financial incentive that goes with it seem to have found their audience. “Since the launch in March, we have seen gradual growth. Month after month, we are counting a few more trips,” summarizes Fanny Richard, regional director of BlaBlaCar Daily. In July, she counted 700 across all three inter-municipalities (which partly finance the incentive system), including 400 in Cattenom alone. “These results are interesting,” she says.
Luxembourg no longer digs into its pockets
When the partnership was launched, the target of 15,000 journeys per year was announced. It will not be reached for the first year of operation. Fanny Richard puts forward a main reason for this: if the financial incentive exists on the northern Moselle side, it is no longer in force in Luxembourg.
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Indeed, the carpooling platform BlaBlaCar Daily has been accessible for several years in Luxembourg. Until a few months ago, it was called Klaxit. The Luxembourg government had put its hand in its pocket to set up this financial incentive, but that time is now over. “The final decision was communicated to us on March 27. Luxembourg considers that the initial objective of setting up the carpooling platform in the Grand Duchy has been achieved and that, therefore, its share of the work has been done. (…) Today, Luxembourg would rather encourage employers to take over for this financial incentive.”
Also in force in the Pays Haut-Val d’Alzette
The “Luxembourg” effect, particularly for cross-border workers, is therefore less than initially hoped. But Fanny Richard insists: the results since March have been more than satisfactory. “The Cattenom intercommunality has 27,000 inhabitants. Reaching 400 monthly journeys in just six months is a good result. For a territory in a rural area, that’s already very good.” It is also in rural areas that carpooling is developing the most today, particularly for the BlaBlaCar Daily platform.
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It should be noted that another inter-municipal authority bordering Luxembourg has formed a partnership since last spring with BlaBlaCar Daily. The financial incentive is also in force in the Pays Haut-Val d’Alzette community of communes (CCPHVA, around Villerupt/Audun-le-Tiche). However, unlike the communities of northern Moselle, payment is not possible for journeys to Luxembourg. This therefore excludes cross-border workers. With a direct impact on the figures: in July, 50 journeys were recorded on the application.
