HAS At a time of climate emergency and reduction of our dependence on private cars, public transport is an obvious solution. Whether urban, peri-urban or rural, these essential public services can and must become the emblem of a massive and planned ecological transition. Alas, large parts of the territory are still deprived of it.
Even within the large conurbations, the inequalities in service are glaring, the expectations considerable. But to answer it, mobility organizing authorities (AOM) that we chair are far from having the necessary resources. On the contrary, their finances are coming out weakened by the Covid-19 pandemic, then by the inflation shock of 2022.
Faced with the situation, we nevertheless chose to activate all the leeway we had. Some projects have been revised with frugality in mind. The direct contributions of local authorities have been widely noted. The price of tickets and subscriptions has also been revised upwards, while ensuring that vulnerable audiences are protected from the effects of inflation. The mobility paymentfinally, has been raised to the maximum threshold within our territorial jurisdictions.
Strengthen the service and the network
To go further and meet investment needs, new avenues of financing should now be explored. The recent announcements by Elisabeth Borne in favor of financing the ecological transition augur well for direct support from the State, which we welcome. Early 2022, the Group of authorities responsible for transport (GART), the association bringing together the AOMs of France, estimated the need at around one billion euros per year for the development of urban public transport outside Paris, to maximize the leverage effect on the dynamics of local investment projects. That won’t be enough.
The track of the removal of the ceiling and the modulation of the mobility payment is immediately available. It is all the more justified since, little by little, certain municipalities or districts of our agglomerations benefit from a network of strong lines (metro, tramway, high-level bus service) comparable to Parisian standards. The service to Paris and the Île-de-France region has itself clearly progressed in recent years. It would therefore be up to the AOMs, in consultation with the employers subject to the mobility payment, to define the territories where a rate higher than the current ceilings is justified, and those to which the resources released must be allocated as a priority to strengthen the service and the network in collective transportation.
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