A minister who attended Polytechnique and the National School of Bridges and Roads is the ideal profile for senior officials at the Ministry of Transport: many of them have the same pedigree. Patrice Vergriete, previous minister of housing, chosen to succeed Clément Beaune as minister responsible for transport, should have no difficulty in imposing himself on his administration. Its 2.02 meters will do the rest. Like his predecessor, the mayor of Dunkirk, son of a worker and former member of the Socialist Party, is a left-wing figure within Macronie. The transition will therefore not be brutal.
In the field of transport, he will not need to make a name for himself, unlike his predecessor. Patrice Vergriete knows the world of mobility well. At least at the municipal level. In September 2018, he made Dunkirk the largest European city to make transport free. Rather than running empty buses – which made little money from ticket sales – the city increased the number and frequency of buses and opened them to everyone. A great success. The Dunkirks have returned to the center. Since then, the city has become proselytized and has inspired other, much larger metropolises, such as Montpellier.
Will the minister push other cities in this direction to reduce car use and reduce CO₂ emissions linked to transport, which still represent 30% of the total in France? Will he continue to push for the adoption of a “rail pass” at 49 euros, dear to his predecessor, on the German model, while this transport ticket allowing travel on all regional trains is very expensive for our neighbors and does not arouse the enthusiasm of the French regions, which have authority over regional rail transport?
Olympics, social climate…
He will have other files, perhaps more urgent. The first is of course the organization of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the first Olympics promising spectators access to all events by public transport, on foot or by bike. Will SNCF and RATP, the two main operators, be ready?
Clément Beaune had established a monthly strategic committee for transport, in order to monitor the progress of operations. He also provided a fortnightly update with the general director of Alstom, Henri Poupart-Lafarge, on the delivery of the new trainsets of line 14, the “lifeline” of the Games, strategically placed between Orly airport in the South, and Saint-Denis Pleyel, to the north, where the athletes’ village is located.
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