FRANCE: The French government is examining proposals for a national rail pass modelled on the Deutschland-Ticket introduced in Germany in May this year.
The German pass gives one month’s unlimited travel on local and regional trains for a flat fare of €49, and the French government envisages launching a pass with a similar price point in time for travel in the 2024 summer season.
President Emmanuel Macron agreed to the concept of a national rail pass on September 4 in an interview on the Hugo Décrypte YouTube channel. Further details were revealed by Transport Minister Clément Beaune three days later when he confirmed that discussions had begun with the régions about the price and how the proposal would be implemented.
Speaking on France 2 television, Beaune said that ‘we want a very simple arrangement, available to everyone, which allows unlimited travel anywhere in France at a low fixed price’.
The pass would be valid on Intercités and TER services and possibly on metro, tram and bus routes. Mirroring the German concept where the Deutschland-Ticket cannot be used on IC and ICE trains, the French pass would not be valid on TGV services. An initial step could see the pass made available only to young people.
Earlier this year, regional governments in France, including Occitanie, Hauts-de-France and Grand-Est, launched their own low-cost promotional rail fares. In addition, 200 000 tickets priced at €19 were sold for use on Intercités trains; these were all bought within six weeks.
The prospect of additional costs being imposed on regional governments in France has generated a mixed reaction. Vice-President in Hauts-de-France with responsibility for transport Franck Dhersin said that ‘the president often has good ideas, but he should stop having ideas involving money from local authorities’. He pointed out that Hauts-de-France spends €530m a year operating 1 250 daily TER services but that ticket sales only generated €180m.
Funding for the Deutschland-Ticket is shared equally between the federal government and the Länder; the annual cost is put at €3bn.
- President Macron said on September 24 that the French government is to make available €800m for between 10 and 15 ‘metropolitan RER projects’.
