Sète also relies on free public transport. The idea, unlike Montpellier, is not to generalize it to everyone, but to target people in financial difficulty. The measure will be effective from January 1, 2023 and will concern non-taxable residents over 65 and the young people aged 11 to 18, whose parents do not pay taxes. The mayor of Sète, Francois Commeinhes announced this Monday, September 12 during its back-to-school meeting.
The purpose of the maneuver is to encourage Sète residents to take more public transport. “We want to establish free access as an incentive, so that people change their habits. Rather than taking the car to go for a short run of a kilometer or two, I would prefer that they take the bus and then the city will reimburse the bus fare“, details the chosen one. But then, why not extend it to as many people as possible? “Free has a cost, it’s too expensive to be generalized“, he retorts. The former senator also specifies that these are the cash inflows from paid parking which will make it possible to finance the measure.
Justify a certain number of journeys to benefit from it
To benefit from it and therefore be reimbursed, the public concerned must justify a minimum number of journeys per month. The precise figure has not yet been decided. “We are going to have much more efficient ticketing, so we are going to be able to carry out analyzes and precisely have an analysis of the uses of each other to see precisely whether there are people who take the bus to go around the mountains or to leave their car in a free car park and go shopping in the city center“, explains François Commeinhes.
Line 8, which entered into force on September 1, which notably serves the station, the police station, or even the CCAS, will on the other hand become free for all from October 1. Sete Mediterranean Agglopole signed a new public service delegation agreement with Keolis for the period 2022-2029 and aim 17% increase in attendance and more than 3.7 million travelers.