With almost 200 kilometers daily for two cars, the fuel budget for the home of this aeronautical technician in Toulouse has skyrocketed.

"We have two cars. We were around 300 euros, we went to 500 euros per month," he laments.

Jean Castex announced on Saturday a "discount at the pump of 15 cents per liter" for all fuels, from April 1 and for four months.

In the meantime, on the edge of the A68 motorway which connects Toulouse to Albi, this is where fuel is "the cheapest" in the area, according to Sébastien, who closely follows the prices on an application.

He has just paid 57 euros to fuel his sedan: "There I filled up but there was some left in it."

From his home in the Tarn department to his work in the Toulouse suburbs, this forties with graying hair must drive for "45 kilometers, that's 90 kilometers" round trip, he told AFP.

With "more than 20%" of his income that he leaves at the pump, on weekends "we don't drive anymore".

"We make sure to keep diesel for the week to go to work", regrets the 47-year-old father.

A carpooling area in Meteren, Nord department, April 26, 2016 PHILIPPE HUGUEN AFP / Archives

Carpooling or taking public transport, the technician thought about it but he works offbeat, impossible to give up driving.

"Either I'm day or I'm night, you have to find people who have the same hours as us, who are in the same sector and that's where it's not easy".

Carpool or bike

At the pump next door, Aurelia Randabel looks gloomy.

"I have it for 29.28 euros for 15 liters (...) it's appalling", is alarmed by this 47-year-old trader.

To save money, Aurelia is thinking of leaving her vehicle in the garage to start cycling.

His current journey time, "about twenty minutes", is expected to double.

In addition to carpooling, this would allow her to "take the car only once a week", analyzes the mother of the family.

Living in the countryside and traveling several tens of kilometers to work in Toulouse or Albi, this is the case for 85% of the assets of Saint-Sulpice-la-Pointe, commune of Tarn, according to the mayor of the city of 9,600 inhabitants, Raphael Bernardin.

Rue de Rivoli in Paris, March 8, 2022 EMMANUEL DUNAND AFP / Archives

Pending government measures, the elected LREM has planned to set up exceptional aid, from April, of 50 euros per month for a period of three months for his fellow citizens, under strict eligibility criteria.

For "people who are in the bracket where every euro is counted (...) those who cannot take public transport", the mayor assesses "those who are really targeted at 200 people".

If several municipalities in France have opted for a similar response to the rise in prices at the pump, this is not the case of the village of Haute-Garonne where Julie Niger lives.

At 23, the young groom travels "40 or even 50 kilometers every day" to get to the stable where she works six times a week, except Sundays.

At the gas station, she had "never really looked" at the price per litre, she stammers, until "now where does it hurt".

Behind the wheel of her little black car, she limits her movements.

At noon, she can't afford to go home, so she goes "to eat with colleagues".

That day, the boots still covered with manure in front of the pump, she "only put in twenty euros, it's too scary to fill up".

© 2022 AFP