Paris (AFP)
As France enters a new phase of deconfinement on Tuesday, rail transport should gradually return to normal in turn with "100%" of train tickets on sale again from mid-June, said know the government.
The Secretary of State for Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, indeed announced Sunday on BFMTV that "100% of the offer" of the SNCF would be marketed from "mid-June".
"We remove the restriction of one seat out of two" neutralized in the TGV, which had been imposed on the SNCF in order to respect the rules of distancing, said Mr. Djebbari, asking the public operator to "control its prices " during summer.
This restriction, while no such constraint was imposed by plane, made the SNCF cringe, especially with regard to TGV, the only trains on which it usually makes profits.
The transport company needs an occupancy rate of at least 60% - up to 80% in Ouigo - so as not to lose money.
"What we anticipate is that we will probably have 100% of the supply and 50% of the attendance in mid-June," said the secretary of state.
"We will continue to have very important health measures" in public transport, including the obligation to wear the mask, he said.
Regarding Ile-de-France, a region which remains in the "orange" zone, standardization will be a little more gradual.
The employer certificate to take transport in Ile-de-France at peak times will remain mandatory "at least until June 22", so for any trip between 6:30 am and 9:30 am, then between 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm, said Mr. Djebbari .
Regarding accessibility to the metro "we have 62 closed metro stations, it will certainly be a little less" soon, he said without giving a precise figure.
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