France: health crisis forces, public transport shows heavy losses
The platforms of the Paris metro have been fitted out to promote social distancing.
REUTERS / Benoit Tessier
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
With the health crisis, Ile-de-France residents use public transport much less.
Since the start of the second lockdown, public transport attendance has dropped by half at peak times and by 30% for the rest of the day.
The coronavirus crisis has melted the revenues of public transport companies.
Ile-de-France Mobilités and SNCF are sounding the alarm.
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The accounts of the Ile-de-France Mobilités public establishment, which manages the metro, RER and buses in particular, are in the red.
Valérie Pécresse, president of the Ile-de-France region and of the organizing authority for Ile-de-France transport, estimates the shortfall for next year at one billion euros, to which must be added 2.24 billion euros. euros for 2020. This figure could increase in the event of a third wave.
After tough negotiations, Valérie Pécresse declares that she has obtained from the State that it take charge of all the losses for 2020, due to the health crisis.
And for future losses, the State will compensate directly with an advance repayable at zero rate over a period of 16 years, taking into account the resumption of traffic and the economic recovery.
On the side of the SNCF, the debt is flying, with a hole this year of nearly 5 billion euros.
Its CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou recalled that in 2020 the company had to raise money on the financial markets to repay its loans, pay salaries and suppliers.
The group could bail out by making disposals, without touching Geodis and Keolis, its logistics and public transport subsidiaries, which are at the heart of SNCF's strategy.
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France
Transport
Coronavirus