The 10-member committee will be led by Mr Jacques Rapoport, former president of infrastructure manager SNCF Network, and will consult with all eight departments of the Paris region as well as local communities.

The regional government says the study will seek to encompass the needs of all Parisians to avoid discrimination against certain groups of public transport users.

The study must also take into account the need to finance the modernisation of the region’s public transport network.

“Free access should not reduce Ile-de-France Mobility’s revenue and condemn public transport to saturation and obsolescence,” says regional president Mrs Valérie Pécresse.

Fare revenues currently generate nearly €3bn a year, around a third of the cost of operating the region’s public transport network.

The committee’s report is due to be published in September.