Car use in and around Brussels fell by an average of 5.5% during a pilot scheme organized by Belgium’s three regions to measure the influence of road charging.

The first report from the pilot scheme, which measured 1,000 motorists from the start of the year, revealed that they would cut back on car use and look for alternative modes of transport including bike and public transport. Some drivers also changed the time of their journey and their destination.

The scheme involved installing special satellite navigation equipment in the cars to record every journey and calculate how much it would cost. They gave the drivers a virtual wallet and charged 9 cents/km in the city, 5 cents/km on motorways and 6.5 cents/km elsewhere. Move-IT, the group managing the pilot, said that in the cities where journeys are charged by kilometre there was an 8% cut in congestion.