It’s a little after 5 p.m. and the sun is starting to set over the city of Montpellier, in the south of France. Like every day, Catherine gets on her bike to return home after a day of work. You might think that the abnormally high 20 degrees the thermometer is showing at the end of December is pushing her to pedal, but that’s not the case. “It allows me to move around more easily while doing my daily sport,” she jokes.
However, since December 21, she could, like the approximately 500,000 residents of the greater Montpellier region, use public transport, buses and trams, without having to spend a single euro. “It’s a good thing, I think it will clean up the city a little,” notes Catherine.
Sold as “ecological and social” by the city’s left-wing mayor, this measure is a campaign promise. Michaël Delafosse hopes to reduce the number of cars in circulation by giving a boost to households in his town, which has a poverty rate of 26%, compared to around 15% nationally. “Measures against climate change are often poorly experienced and perceived by the most modest, who have the impression that it is always the same people who suffer. This is why we wanted something that combines the two,” explains Julie Frêche, deputy vice-president of transport for the metropolis.
Free, at what price?
This free service had already started partially in recent years, particularly on weekends, or for young people and seniors. Despite everything, opinions are divided.
If it’s free, but it’s crap, it’s counterproductive.
Alenka Doulain, municipal elected official of the opposition
“If you ask citizens why they don’t take public transportation, price is not the number one factor, but rather it’s because of the poor quality of service,” says Ms.me Doulain, who also regrets that the measure does not include workers who live outside the metropolis.
INFOGRAPHICS THE PRESS
The city has promised to add several dozen tram and bus trains in the coming months, but this is far from reassuring the city’s Public Transport Users Committee. “We undress Paul to dress Jacques,” laments Samuel Grisvard, a member of the committee. “There has already been a deterioration of the service for several years with saturated buses, accumulating delays and people left on the platform during peak hours. We are afraid that free access will make the situation worse. There should have been better anticipation. »
Another point of contention is that of financing. The metropolis estimates the cost of this measure at around 30 million euros per year (nearly 44 million CAN) and assures that there will be no increase in taxes.
The City intends to focus in particular on its economic attractiveness, hoping that the mobility payment (tax paid in France by companies with 11 or more employees) finances a good part of the measure. “When we deprive ourselves of 30 million euros per year without really knowing where we get it from, the risk is very great,” worries Alenka Doulain.
A truly effective measure?
“These kinds of measures, which do not bother motorists, are popular with the public, but are not very effective, because they do not address the problem at the source, that of reducing automobile traffic and its pollution,” maintains Frédéric Héran , transport economist.
We systematically see that it is always, first and foremost, cyclists who are attracted, then pedestrians and far behind motorists, who are in fact very little won over by this measure.
Frédéric Héran, transport economist
Frédéric Héran compared public data on travel modes before and after free transport in six European cities which have already applied it. “A parent who previously dropped off their child at school by car can now encourage them to take the bus for free while continuing to travel by car. » The researcher thinks that other measures are more effective, such as a bicycle layout which reduces the space for cars, a reduction in the authorized speed or even the closure of streets to traffic.
One thing is certain, Montpellier being the largest city in Europe to have implemented free public transport, the consequences of this measure will be closely scrutinized. Could we see the same thing in Quebec? The City of Montreal indicated by email that it was “favorable to all measures aimed at improving the use of public transportation, including financial incentives,” while emphasizing that transportation companies in the province “are still too vulnerable to the lack of funding from the Quebec government.
reference: www.lapresse.ca