Po turn the table upside down sometimes requires strong measures. Not slogans, but structuring proposals that drive a new model, a paradigm shift. This is exactly the idea of the climate ticket. While the Germans are moving from experimentation to practice with the launch of an unlimited subscription for small lines at 49 euros per month, France remains frozen in its wanderings, behind a rail model that is falling apart: under-used lines, antediluvian rolling stock, obsolete signaling system… Not to mention the social consequences: angry users, people under house arrest, territorial divide, exclusion, all-car rule… It is with a roar that the movement of ” yellow vests” brought the public authorities out of their denial.
But the measures taken turned out to be at best short-termist, at worst electoralist. To the 10 billion euros announced by the president to get out of the “yellow vests” crisis, we must add the 10 billion spent in 2022, called fuel rebates, to deal with the rise in the price of gasoline. These two measures deal with the same subject: the aberrant and anachronistic dependence of the French on the private car.
With the train, it is possible to create a new model of mobility. By transforming stations into intermodal platforms, for example, with secure parking for bicycles or scooters, parking for carpooling with charging stations for electric cars, etc. We must also review the type of rolling stock. Why run trains that are too big and too infrequently, when it is less expensive (to purchase and maintain) to run lighter trains that would run more often? As for the signage, it is totally obsolete. We must reinvest to bring it up to standard, to put an end to damage and delays.
Car money pit
Because the stakes are twofold. The climatic dimension is obvious. The transport sector accounts for no less than a third of CO emissions2 in Europe. It is the only sector that has not lowered its carbon footprint since the 1990s.
But, beyond that, the climate ticket has a social dimension at a time when French society is going through a major mobility crisis. The train for all reduces the territorial divide that undermines our country between, on the one hand, the French in the city center and, on the other, the French in rural areas. Not to mention its virtuous effects on purchasing power, while the car, already very expensive, is set to become a real money pit with the expected rise in purchase prices and fuel.
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