Since Monday March 28, a blue vehicle has been crisscrossing the Drôme roads. This is a France Services bus, a national system taken over by the Val de Drôme community of municipalities. It has invested in a motorhome inside which two administrators come to the aid of citizens far from city centers and in difficulty to do their administrative procedures online.
Assistance with all administrative procedures
“The objective is to put people back within thirty minutes of a counter”, explains Benjamin Tant, administrator with Christel Octave. They share this small space with an unfolded table at the entrance and a small room at the back with a sliding door for more privacy.
“We support people for all types of procedures: retirement file, renewal of gray card, driving license, job center file”, explains Christel Octave. More or less long accompaniments for citizens who are sometimes lost. “We have people who suffer from administrative phobia, we are also here to help them”adds Benjamin Tant.
This Friday, April 1, the bus parked in Divajeu, a small village of 700 inhabitants. Impossible not to see the blue vehicle in the distance, despite the snow falling that day. Besides, the snowflakes may be curbing the desire to go out, because no inhabitant is approaching. “However, we were surprisedremembers Benjamin Tant. Surprised and delighted to see that at each place we go, people are there from the start or even before our arrival”.
More and more online procedures
A few hundred meters away, in the town hall, Christian Gresse welcomes this bus with great joy: “After the closure of many public services, it’s a good idea. We are not very far from Crest but we are not there anyway. Divajeu is a very rural town. We have elderly people who are not necessarily available. to go and take their steps in Crest”.
One week before the first round of the presidential election, it is clear that the issues of public services in rural areas and the digital divide are absent from the presidential campaign. “It may not be the concern of our candidatesnotes Christian Gresse. Afterwards, I understand that we cannot put public services in all the villages. We are only 700 inhabitants here”.
It is partly to limit travel to the counter that online procedures are multiplying. A step forward that does not please Anne-Laure, a resident: “This world is getting more and more complex with IT. It’s complex and not even just for the elderly. It takes 10,000 codes, you go crazy. I don’t agree with this society, I’m going to be clear”.
The France Services bus is back on the road this week with a stop at Poët-Célard this Monday morning and at Mornans in the afternoon.
– CCVD / France Services