Ile de France Mobilités, which manages Ile-de-France transport, has decided not to pay the 400 million euros monthly to SNCF and RATP until the State releases additional aid. A decision linked to the difficulties caused by the health crisis. With revenues plummeting and the absence of business transport payments, losses are estimated at 2.6 billion euros by Valérie Pécresse, the president of the Ile de France region.

The decision was ratified on Wednesday by the Board of Directors of Île-de-France Mobilités, the regulatory authority for transport in Île-de-France. The monthly payment of 400 million euros to operators SNCF and RATP will not be made. And the following either if a solution is not found. The health crisis linked to the coronavirus and the low frequency of public transport in the Ile-de-France region reduced the revenue of the Transport Regulatory Authority chaired by Valérie Pécresse.

Do not charge users

The president of the Île-de-France region believes she played the game during the health crisis. First by reimbursing 100 euros for each Navigo Pass subscriber. Then by continuing to pay in full, as usual, the operators, SNCF and RATP, with only 30% of trains in circulation.

Île-de-France Mobilités estimates that there were 600 million euros overpaid by the two companies and now finds itself in great financial difficulty: 1.6 billion euros in ticket sales losses and a billion euros euros linked to the transport payment for companies.

Without compensating for the total shortfall, one of the possibilities for the region to finance public transport would be to increase the price of monthly subscriptions by 20 euros for five years. "It is out of the question that travelers pay the Covid bill while in other countries, it is the States that compensated for the losses," insisted Valérie Pécresse.

SNCF already in the red

This suspension of payment will impact the already much weakened finances of the SNCF. Traveling in the Bas-Rhin this morning, the president of the railway company, Jean-Pierre Farandou, clarified that the SNCF "will respect its public service obligations" but that from the moment "when we are ordered a service, it is normal for us to be paid for the service we provide. " Jean-Pierre Farandou also recalled that "the SNCF has already lost four billion euros in this crisis". The president of the SNCF hoped that the discussions in progress will quickly lead to "fair compensation".

For her part, Valérie Pécresse asked the new Prime Minister, Jean Castex, to receive her as soon as possible in Matignon. An approach supported by the mayor of Paris. On her Twitter account, Anne Hidalgo spoke of the very critical financial situation "which must not penalize Ile-de-France residents".