The Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, will attend today the first forum of the Transport Innovation Agency at the Cité des Sciences in Paris. The opportunity to select a pilot project to experiment with the single transport ticket for all of France.
The Delegate Minister of Transport of France Clément Beaune gave an interview to 20 minutes in which he talks about his project for a single ticket for public transport in France.
The allure of a single ticket
From the beginning, Clément Beaune declares that ” what is service, use, innovation » is left aside too often while, according to him, «the attractiveness of public transport on a day-to-day basis also depends to a large extent on the service provided in terms of safety, cleanliness, traveler information, remuneration, ease of access, etc.»
He goes on to talk about the 49 euro note that is being introduced in Germany, a “revolutionaccording to the minister, thanks toa single ticket, paper or electronic, for all daily transport.“For the Minister, this would facilitate”the use of several means of transport during a single trip.»
The form that this ticket will take is not fixed at the moment, but several means are planned: an application or dematerialized titles “recognized and read by all.Obviously, the digital divide is not forgotten and Beaune stresses that people who do not have access to a smartphone or who do not use digital tools must be taken into account. Hopefully if an app solution is adopted, the ergonomics won’t be as bad as the SNCF Connect app launched last year. Regarding dematerialization, we know that the Île-de-France Mobilités network has implemented the first dematerialized metro tickets. We can very well envision future integration into apps like Google Wallet and apps like that. We also know that Google is working on a feature to validate a transport ticket with your Pixel Watch.
2 years to prepare the single transport ticket
Through the Transport Innovation Agency (AIT), Beaune launched a hackathon, a kind of call for projects, which got more than 70 responses, including “start-ups, large transport operators such as RATP or SNCF, students who want to start.This agency created in November 2021 aims, among other things, to follow the “digital revolution“transportation.
It will select one of the candidates with a jury made up of the State, representatives of the regions and other local authorities. Clément Beaune is sure: “in the space of two years, we can develop the single ticket in all parts of France.The goal has been set to start experiments by the end of the year.in a series of voluntary territories.“The Minister says he wishes”delete a certain number of titles to have a single ticket at the level of a region or a department.»
Regarding financing, it is the AIT that will be in charge of the support phase. But for the deployment, the costs will be for the communities: the minister adds that a “State support is possiblewithout further details.
A single ticket, but at what price?
First of all, on the question of the single rate, Clément Beaune is categorical: “It is not up to the State to tell the regions what their offer is and the price of transport, it is their responsibility.“For him, the only support could”encourage organizing authorities to propose common rates.Another problem to manage, that of the TER: last October,The worldpublished a survey on the massive suppressions of TER in Hauts-de-France pointing the finger at an administrative millefeuille that has consequences for the service.
The Minister did not address the issue of the price of a single ticket, in a context of inflation and loss of purchasing power. At the same time, the price of public transport tends to increase, led by the Navigo pass. Since the beginning of 2023 it has gone from 75.20 to 84.10 euros per month. An increase linked in part to a confrontation between Valérie Pécresse, president of the Île-de-France region, and the government.
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