Free public transport in the metropolis of Montpellier, an emblematic promise of the municipal campaign of socialist Michaël Delafosse, will affect nearly 500,000 inhabitants and will be effective from December 21 on board the buses and trams of the metropolitan network.
The council of Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole, which groups 31 municipalities, set this Thursday on this date the “full implementation of free public transport” for the inhabitants of the city and its surroundings, the institution said in a statement on Friday. The first two phases of the transition to free have found their audience, stresses the metropolis: the “free weekend pass”, available since September 2020, has 92,000 users and the one for children under 18 and over 65, released in September 2021, 106,000, according to the press release.
“The recent energy crisis demonstrates more than ever the need to promote public transport through an ecological and inclusive transition,” underlines the city council of the metropolis. The savings amount to 196 euros a year for an 18-year-old high school student, 321 euros for a retiree, 481.50 euros for an employee without a Business Travel Plan (PDE), 217 euros for an employee with a PDE or even 826 euros. for a family of two adults with PDE and two children over the age of 18, according to the same source.
30 million euros deficit
The box office generates 40 million euros annually, or about 5% of the city’s budget. The deficit should be less – around 30 million euros – as tourists and companies will continue to pay their share, according to a spokesman for the metropolis. The southern French city follows in the footsteps of Dunkerque (North), an urban community of 200,000 inhabitants that abolished bus tickets in 2018 and where attendance has skyrocketed. For its part, Luxembourg became in 2020 the first country in the world to offer free public transport throughout its territory.
To opponents of free access who point out the risk of “saturation” of the networks, Montpellier responds that it is investing in parallel in the construction of a fifth tram line, scheduled for 2025, and in the purchase of additional trains and buses from new generation. .
Source: BFM TV
