“Frustration”, “exasperation”, “incomprehension”… A wind of revolt has been crossing the young community of 100,000 TGV Max subscribers for several weeks. Now renamed Max Jeune, this SNCF service allows 16-27 year olds, for 79 euros per month, to travel without paying anything more and without any limit on the number of trips made. A sort of unlimited package for TGV and Intercités.
But that is the theory. In practice, subscribers complain about the headache that the use of TGV Max has become and the hassle of finding a “Max seat” at zero euros. Take the case of Céline, Agathe and Marine, three students in Lille between 21 and 23 years old (the typical profile of the subscriber), and who return to their families on weekends. They were initially satisfied with the service – understanding that they could not easily get a TGV Max ticket on Friday after 4 p.m. or Sunday evening but still managed to find acceptable trains.
However, since November, they are disillusioned. Impossible, they say, to have the availabilities that they could obtain before. “This Friday before the holidays, to return to Paris, I had to buy a 38 euro ticket in addition to my subscription, Celine annoys. As I hardly find any more tickets – except sometimes at impossible times which oblige me to add a Blablacar between Lyon and Grenoble -, I hardly return home. “ “We are fighting for the rare places in direct Lille-Bordeaux, TGV Max, it has become Koh-Lanta”, adds Marine.
The three young girls are not the only ones to rant. Dozens of similar situations came to our attention as soon as The world launched her investigation on the subject: Sarah, who talks about “Disaster”, Marjorie, who says to herself ” furious “, Kevin, a 26-year-old active youngster, who confesses to having more and more difficulty in properly commuting between Paris and Charleville-Mézières, Ugo, 25, who found himself having to pay for a Fréjus-Paris in first class , Yann, 23, subscriber since 2017, who says he sees the difference between the pleasant beginnings of his life as a “TGVMaxeur” and this nightmarish 2021 back-to-school year …
Exasperation
Dozens of cases and even hundreds are highlighted on the Twitter account of the 1Max2train association and on two Facebook groups “TGVMax Community” (19,000 subscribers) and “TGVMax, the community of Maxplorers” (3,000 subscribers). Exasperation rises in the face of sometimes grotesque situations. Adrien, publishes a photo of a train full of free places with the following comment: “Difficulty booking a TGV in rush hour (Paris-Lille 6:45 pm) when it is… empty. “ A situation that many subscribers who have been contacted or crossed over on the Internet say they have known, such as Lola and Céline, who post the same types of photos of empty trains, annoying at having paid for their tickets for lack of finding a TGV Max seat.
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