The Navigo pass at 75.20 euros per month has probably lived on in recent months. Its price, which has not changed since 2017, should be revised upwards next year. This is in any case what Valérie Pécresse suggested during a meeting with journalists reported by AFP, without however specifying the amount of this increase.
The president of Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM), the organizing authority for transport in Ile-de-France, will have to find 750 million euros to cope with the increase in the operating costs of public transport in the Ile-de-France region. “The absolutely colossal rise in energy prices will sweep through everyday transport”, she warned. To face it, she wants involve the State, the departments, the RATP, the SNCF and “the least possible” The travellers.
Valérie Pécresse has done her calculations. For IDFM, the rise in energy prices translates into an increase of 950 million euros in costs for operating the network. “We found 200 million euros internally, we still have 750 million to find”, explains the president of the Ile-de-France region, who wishes “a fair sharing of the effort”.
No Navigo at 100 euros
No way for it to pass on this cost only to travelers. “I refuse the Navigo at 100 euros”, which would amount to an increase of 25 euros compared to the current price. “What I want is to increase the Navigo as little as possible”, while pointing out that its price has not changed for five years and that travel associations are not against a moderate increase.
“Yes it’s true but on condition that we return to a 100% transport offer”answers Arnaud Bertrand, the president of the association of users Plus de Trains. “The deletions of buses and trains (decided by IDFM and suffered by the shortage of staff) are far too penalizing to consider an increase without a specific plan on this file”, he continues. Valérie Pécresse assures that she does not intend to lower the offer even more but does not speak either of restoring it to 100% immediately.
Get everyone involved
To pay the bill, the president of Ile-de-France Mobilités is considering an additional contribution of 100 million euros from local authorities (the Region and the departments). It also intends to recover 200 million euros from the RATP and the SNCF which make higher margins than expected in Ile-de-France. Valerie Pécresse also asks the State to lower the VAT on transport from 10% to 5.5%, which would make it possible to recover 150 million euros.
The leader also wants to increase the mobility payment, a tax on the payroll of companies with more than 11 employees, especially targeting those located in the heart of the Paris agglomeration. This measure could bring in 250 to 300 million, according to her.
Opposition elected officials on the Ile-de-France Mobilités board of directors refuse to charge users for the increase. “On the one hand we are putting 7.5 billion euros on the table to help pay for refueling and on the other hand we want to increase the price of the pass for those who use public transport? ?? It’s absurd for the climate and socially unjust!”, protests David Belliard, EELV administrator of IDFM and deputy mayor of Paris in charge of transport.