Montpellier, première métropole française aux transports gratuits
À partir de jeudi soir, les transports en commun seront offerts gratuitement aux 500 000 habitants de la métropole de Montpellier, située dans le sud de la France.
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L'info en continu https://buzzplus.fr/
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Transcript
00:00 From Thursday evening, public transport will be offered for free to the 500,000 inhabitants of the Montpellier metropolis,
00:07 located in the south of France.
00:09 This initiative makes Montpellier one of the largest European communities to implement such a measure.
00:15 In Europe, Luxembourg, 650,000 inhabitants, has made public transport free in the country since 2020,
00:23 just like the Estonian capital Tallinn, 445,000 inhabitants, in 2013.
00:29 In France, around forty communities have already taken this step,
00:33 including Dunkerque, Aubagne or Compiègne,
00:36 but all are less populated than the Montpellier metropolis and its 31 municipalities.
00:40 The free public transport is an idea of the European commitment, of the Green New Deal,
00:46 namely the climate and purchasing power,
00:48 explained Thursday to AFP the mayor of Montpellier, Michael de La Fosse.
00:52 "We have decided to set up an association here to help other European mayors make this choice,"
00:57 he added, congratulating himself on seeing that the Spanish government is preparing to launch free public transport for the summer.
01:04 In Montpellier, before the free public transport, for a couple with two children,
01:08 the total annual bill for the subscription of public transport was raised to 1,472 euros.
01:13 "Given the price of gasoline, this measure can help reduce the use of the car,"
01:19 commented Wednesday to AFP Audrey Benezes, 46, director of a travel agency.
01:25 Promising the socialist mayor of Montpellier,
01:29 this free public transport was imposed step by step, as in Dunkerque or Tallinn.
01:33 In 2020, it was deployed on weekends for all inhabitants of the Montpellier-Mediterranean metropolis,
01:40 then expanded in 2021 to the entire week for those under 18 and over 65 years old.
01:45 Thursday at 6.30 p.m., it will therefore concern all inhabitants with a free pass,
01:51 available on a smartphone or via a card.
01:54 The user will no longer validate but will have to justify, in case of control,
01:59 a valid pass, renewable each year with a home justification.
02:03 We have equipped all the trams with counting cells.
02:07 They count, thanks to a luminous beam, the number of people entering and leaving.
02:13 This will help us to target our free policy,
02:17 details Julie Frèche, vice-president of transport.
02:21 Before the start of the implementation of this free pass,
02:25 the number of subscribers to public transport was 86,000, according to figures obtained by the AFP.
02:30 In mid-December, a few days after the launch of the free pass, it was 260,000.
02:36 Degraded quality?
02:38 For the inhabitants outside the metropolis as well as for tourists,
02:42 the ticket, 1.60 euros per unit, will remain paying and could even increase.
02:47 A choice criticized by the opposition, which sees a delay in the modal report.
02:52 We are missing the target, says Alenka Doulin,
02:55 elected member of the MUP group, Montpellier, Popular Union for Ecological and Social Affairs.
03:00 The employment poll of the Mediterranean metropolis attracts many active residents
03:05 on the neighboring territories and generates many home-work trips, according to INSEE.
03:10 These people have already had to give up living in the metropolis due to the land pressure
03:15 and will not see any improvement in transport, says the elected member.
03:19 To compensate for the lack of income from the free pass,
03:22 the MUP will rely on the mobility tax,
03:25 a tax imposed by companies with more than 11 employees, which has been increasing for three years.
03:30 It also provides savings of nearly 2 million euros
03:34 thanks to the removal of validators and therefore their maintenance.
03:37 In 2022, the revenue from the free pass amounted to 39 million euros,
03:42 amounting to 90% by the metropolitan residents.
03:46 Faced with the fear of a drop in quality of service,
03:49 the metropolis has responded by large investments.
03:52 70 new electric buses and 77 new tram lines have been bought for 224 million euros.
03:59 The Montpellier-Rennes metropolis expects a 20% increase in attendance.
04:04 In 2019, before the health crisis,
04:07 the number of trips in this community known for the development of its tram reached nearly 84 million,
04:13 according to a report from the Regional Chamber of Accounts in 2023.
04:17 However, it was on guard.
04:20 With the gradual implementation of the free pass,
04:23 the proposed transport offer has been degraded
04:26 and has led to a reduction in the frequency of passage on several lines.
04:29 near.