While the announcement of the increase in the metro ticket, to 4 euros, for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, sparked a wave of indignation in public opinion, a growing number of territories are choosing to introduce free travel total of their public transport. This is the case of Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole. Although it is not a pioneer in this area, this town will become from this Thursday evening the largest town in Europe to offer such a system to its 500,000 citizens, just ahead of Tallinn, the Estonian capital.
A campaign promise kept for the socialist town hall of Montpellier, which has made mobility its hobby horse. These measures “is not just a pricing measure, we are trying to remove all the obstacles that complicate the use of public transport to encourage as many people as possible to use them, in a desire to protect the environment and the power of ‘purchase», Explains to Capital Julie Frêche, elected transport delegate and daughter of former mayor Georges Frêche.
From now on, residents of the 31 municipalities of Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole will no longer need to validate their bus and tram ticket, each resident will simply have to have a card attesting to their place of residence, to present in the event of an inspection. A social and ecological measure already adopted by 45 territories in France (see map below).
The first cities to implement free transport were Colomiers 65 (Haute-Garonne) and Compiègne (Oise), in 1971 and 1975 respectively. Observatory of Free Transport Cities / AGUR
Who pays to ensure free access?
Free transport, every day and for all residents without losing money? Listening to Julie Frêche, this is entirely possible. The 42 million euros annually received by the company operating the Montpellier tramways (TAM) will be fully compensated by the town hall “to the nearest euro», assures the elected official. But how will the town hall finance the free service? “Thanks to the mobility payment, a state system launched in 2021. This tax is financed by companies with at least 11 employees, up to 2% deducted directly from salaries. Today, 3,500 companies finance the Metropolis’ transport policy, out of the 65,000 in the region. When we arrived at town hall, it brought in 90 million euros per year. In 2024, we will reach 120 million, or 30% more in four years!», says Julie Frêche.
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A satisfaction that some members of the opposition do not share, like the elected LFI Alenka Doulain, who describes free transport as “demagogic and communication measure“. Although she is not fundamentally against free access, she was concerned in November, in the columns of Midi Libre, about the lack of budgetary visibility: “The problem is not the free service, it is this free service for which we do not have a financing plan.. It would have made sense to make it free for students, but not to generalize it».
Other French cities have gone even further in making it free by even exempting non-resident travelers from purchasing a ticket. In Dunkirk, this system was initiated in 2015 by the former mayor, Patrice Vergriete, currently Minister of Housing. A system also financed by the mobility payment.
⋙ Niort: what conclusions can be drawn from free public transport?
Before, less than 5% of the population used the Dunkirk bus network. Just nine months after the launch of free admission, attendance jumped by 80% on weekdays and more than 140% on weekends. An encouraging Dunkirk success for Montpellier, whose objective, by 2025, is to see 83% of the metropolis’s inhabitants and 98% of Montpellier residents served by public transport. For this, the Mediterranean metropolis had to take out the checkbook. “We are going to devote 1 billion euros to soft mobility to offer our residents a range of services so that they have the choice of their mode of travel, whether by tram, high-level service bus, bus, bicycle, on foot, etc.», Lists Julie Frêche.
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In total, 43 French territories have taken the plunge of free public transport, in particular by relying on the mobility payment, including rates will change on January 1, 2024. Among these territories, there are six with more than 100,000 inhabitants and 10 with between 50,000 and 100,000 inhabitants. If they have been a source of inspiration for Montpellier, its new status as the largest urban area in Europe to have launched free services could in turn be emulated: last year, a Japanese delegation came to pay visit to Mayor Michaël Delafosse, in particular to discuss free transport.
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2023-12-21 06:22:39
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