• The regional assembly voted this Friday to overhaul TER and bus fares.

  • In 2022, the regional authority injected 480 million euros into its Zou network.

  • An envelope that will remain unchanged, she promised.

Presented as "simpler, fairer and more ecological", a new price list for trains and coaches was voted by the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region on Friday, despite opposition from user associations and defense of the environment expressing their "incomprehension".

“I want to double the number of people who are in our buses and in our trains”, currently 200,000 every day, said in plenary session the president of the region, ex-LR Renaud Muselier.

This region of about five million inhabitants accounts for 67 million annual trips on TER and coaches and hopes “in the medium term” to generate 4.2 million more through this reform.

On January 5, 2023, various measures will be put in place, including a simplification of the number of fares (from 430 to 10) on coach lines and a different subscription system.

480 million euros per year injected by the region

The more the user takes the train, the more the share of the ticket borne by the Region will increase.

The regional executive is currently injecting 480 million euros per year into its public transport network and announces that it will maintain this sum.

The same progressive system will be put in place for group tickets to "offer the possibility of using public transport in competition with carpooling", indicated the vice-president in charge of Transport Jean-Pierre Serrus.

There is also a “solidarity” component where the number of people who can benefit from reductions for free – that is to say without buying a specific card – must “double” – and concern up to 25% of the five million inhabitants. of Paca – thanks to a widening of the range of eligible family quotients.

"Pricing should provide levers for conducting a sustainable mobility policy", added Jean-Pierre Serrus, affirming that the new tariff schedule is "simpler, fairer, more ecological and likely to retain customers. users on our public transport services”.

Opposition from user associations, RN and ecologists

The reform does not, however, satisfy the associations of users (including a petition collected 3,500 signatures) supported by the opposition (National Rally and environmentalists) due to the abolition of a card which granted significant reductions for all users.

“We absolutely do not understand the logic”, lamented the president of Nosterpaca Stéphane Coppey, one of the associations for the defense of public transport which launched the petition with environmental organizations like Alternatiba.

“The idea of ​​this card was to bring people to the train who naturally were not users”, he underlined.

"We choose to orient more towards regular use than occasional use", replied Jean-Pierre Serrus: "We are obviously thinking of the journeys of the greatest number", rather than occasional users.

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  • Company

  • Marseilles

  • Train

  • TER

  • Nice

  • Rate

  • Renaud Muselier

  • Paca