- Elected officials of Sytral, a joint public transport union, voted on Friday to terminate the Rhônexpress contract, providing service to Lyon airport.
- If this decision should make it possible to lower the tariffs in force, certain elected officials express reservations.
- They are concerned about the financial consequences for Sytral, which will now be responsible for liaising.
Electric atmosphere Friday afternoon at Sytral, mixed union of Lyon public transport. After very heated discussions, the elected officials voted to terminate the contract with Rhônexpress, providing service to Lyon-Saint-Exupéry airport. And David Kimelfeld, the president of the metropolis who carried the project, thus scores points in the standoff engaged with Gérard Collomb for the next elections.
The termination of the Rhônexpress contract is now in effect, but this decision, which should satisfy users, worries some of the elected officials. For several reasons.
The change will not be now
Before ending the negotiations, Sytral and the metropolis had managed to agree with Rhônexpress on lower prices. The single ticket, which currently costs 16.30 euros, would be reduced to 13.90 euros for single users and 12.20 euros for travelers already benefiting from a TCL subscription. We would therefore stay on these prices. The tram service, serving eastern Lyon, would be increased by almost 30%. However, users will have to be patient because these decisions should not be implemented before 2021. "For the moment, this will not change anything because there is eight months' notice," recalls Fouziya Bouzerda. For a year, therefore, nothing will happen except the termination negotiations ”.
A common sense decision or a political act?
For François-Noël Buffet, mayor LR of Oullins, favorable to the termination, there was no urgency to take this type of decision. “I am surprised that this deliberation occurs only three weeks before the first round of the elections. No one is fooled. Everyone understands that this is a political operation, ”he said.
Visited by critics, David Kimelfeld assures that this decision should already have been made four years ago when his predecessor Gérard Collomb was at the helm of the metropolis. "It was the only possible choice to defend the interest of Sytral and those of the inhabitants of the agglomeration", he answers, joined thus by Jean-Paul Bret, the mayor PS of Villeurbanne. “The contract, which bound us to Rhônexpress is leonine, disproportionate and very largely in favor of the operator. We had come to the end of an ongoing and long-standing negotiation process. It was important not to postpone this decision and to give a sign to the users, victims of injustice, ”added the elected official.
What risks for Sytral?
Once the contract, which ran until 2038, will be terminated, Sytral will be responsible for serving the airport. He will have to pay the 32 million euros in compensation for termination of this contract. But is already worried about other financial consequences: possibly repaying the monthly loan payments estimated at 120 million euros for the next 19 years. “It was not planned that these annuities be assumed by Sytral since in fact, it was the responsibility of the metropolis within the framework of the convention which bound us. But this agreement falls due to the termination, explains Fouziya Bouzerda. Only the new metropolitan council, formed after the elections, will be able to vote or not this convention ”.
The concern is shared by Gérard Collomb, who does not mince words with regard to his successor. “The President of the Metropolis poses a serious risk to Sytral, an important financial risk whose volume no one knows today. For their part, users will gain nothing since they will continue to pay for their ticket at the current rate when they could have benefited from a 25% reduction. This rushing to three weeks from an election obviously has little to do with the interests of users of the Metropolis and particularly of East Lyonnais, ”he believes.
What David Kimelfeld energetically refutes. "What we forget to say is that this decision will save Sytral money," he replies. According to the most pessimistic scenario, namely that the airport's activity literally collapses, we would however gain 4 million euros by 2038, after deduction of the 32 million termination indemnities. In the best of cases, we would save 50 million euros. These are not figures out of my sleeve but those presented by the experts, "he concludes.
municipal
Municipal in 2020 in Lyon: Internal dispute over the termination of the Rhônexpress contract, shuttle bus serving the airport
Lyon
The metropolis of Lyon wants to terminate the contract for the shuttle that serves the airport, what changes for users?
- Sytral
- Airport
- David Kimelfeld
- Gérard Collomb
- Transport
- Lyon
- Economy
- Public transport