In the Loiret, a traveling bus travels to facilitate administrative procedures

In an Odoxa-Dentsu Consulting* survey published in 2019, nearly two-thirds of French people (63%) living in rural areas felt that they did not have enough public services in their area, in terms of health, employment or access to the post.

An observation that is not new and which has led the State and local authorities to finance buses labeled France services. Their mission: to crisscross the priority districts of the city policy (QPV) and the rural cantons to allow the inhabitants to carry out administrative procedures while being accompanied by an agent who guides them in the use of digital media.

The department of Loiret has just equipped itself with a bus of this type which has been circulating since April 11 in 20 municipalities of the Community of municipalities of Loges, in the center of Loiret. For now, this is an experiment. The device could see its range extended “provided that it really meets its audience over time”, underlines Marc Gaudet, the president of the Department.

“The idea is that the user can be less than 20 minutes from a place where administratively, he can start the process”, says Laurence Bellais, vice-president of the Loiret departmental council. To respond to users’ requests, six organizations are partners in this operation: Adil-Faire (which advises on legal, financial and tax issues relating to housing), the CAF, CPAM, Maison de justice et du droit, Carsat and DGFIP .

In the bus, a computer, a printer, a scanner and the possibility of making videoconferences. Two agents are dedicated to assisting with formalities. Their presence is a real plus, not just to help users technically.

What they lack in their administrative procedures is to have a direct exchange with a very real person who can quickly answer their questions.

Helene Coubret

administrative assistant

This is perhaps where such a service comes into its own. In a survey on access to rights published in 2017, the second most cited problem is the difficulty users have in contacting a person (38%) in the context of administrative procedures. Results that are directly related to the increasing dematerialization of services and the reduction in the number of counters.

The risk is discouragement. The isolated, precarious, elderly public but also a proportion of young people, ending up “abandoning the steps following the experience of difficulties. This leads to situations of non-use of rights”. Hence the importance of finding concrete solutions adapted to these audiences.

The fact remains that if this bus will run every week on fixed days and times (see below), the goal is for users to become autonomous, as Julie Orhon, administrative assistant, reminds us: “The goal is that in the long term, they will do it all by themselves, by lending them the equipment if they don’t have the possibility to do it at home..”

The cost of this France Services bus: 122,000 euros, half of which is paid for by the Department of Loiret, which has recruited two agents, and the other half by the State and the Banque des Territoires. Its operation is estimated at 80,000 euros per year.

The 20 Loiret municipalities concerned by this free service: Vienne-en-Val, Vitry, Saint-Martin-d’Abbat, Darvoy, Jargeau, Saint-Denis-de-l’Hôtel, Seichebrières, Châteauneuf, Sandillon, Combleux, Sully -la-Chapelle, Sigloy, Fay-aux-Loges, Sury-aux-Bois, Donnery, Ouvrouer, Tigy, Ingrannes, Bouzy and ADS Beauce in Sologne (Jargeau).

Schedules passing : 9:30 a.m. to noon and 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday. More information on the site of your municipality or Department of Loiret.

*This Odoxa-Dentsu Consulting survey for franceinfo and Le Figaro was carried out online on February 20 and 21, 2019, on a sample of 1,004 French people representative of the French population aged 18 and over.