Free access for around 500,000 residents of the metropolis has increased the number of users of this public transport network: +23.7% in four months! Even the cost, almost 40 million euros according to the regional audit chamber, would be lower, explains Mickaël Delafosse, especially thanks to the payment of company mobility. Clapas should see these good numbers continue to increase with the arrival, in 2025, of a 5th tram line, a tram network and 70 buses with a high level of service.
Pierre, a tourist who came to the bridge on May 1st with his family, is looking for the terminal in vain insert a transport ticket: a young resident of Montpellier who also travels on the colorful tram explains to him, with a smile on his lips, that his research is out of date: “The terminals have been removed because it’s free for all residents of Montpellier!” he told him. “Besides, we don’t deny ourselves access to the tram thanks to the free ticket”, only available with proof of address.
Free for locals, not for tourists
Universal free access gives priority to the social tariff system undoubtedly to avoid what we call “non-opt-in”: those people who don’t activate their free or reduced offer out of ignorance or to avoid feeling stigmatized. Free travel has limitations: if you don’t live in the metropolis of Montpellier, you have to pay for a ticket at a price of €1.60 per trip. These exogenous sales revenues “maintain at a good level: €500,000 per month or 30% of the income to be maintained”, say the metropolis.
About 500,000 inhabitants spread over 31 municipalities of the Metropole benefit from free public transport from December 21, 2023. Is it a social measure that, first of all, allows us to pollute less? Like Dunkirk or Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, the capital of Languedoc-Roussillon is honoring the campaign promise of the new PS mayor, Mickaël Delafosse. The answer to the question is clear: yes, it works!
This is a measure that enables savings of €1,470 per year for a family of four, for example.
As proof, this popular environmental action beneficial to the climate is reflected in very official figures: free transport – which exists in 45 cities in France – increased the use of public transport by almost 25%. 358,000 residents of the metropolis have already activated their “free pass” at least once every four months, while the metropolis had 86,000 subscribers in 2019. Enough to significantly limit the use of cars on short and long-distance routes, which are ultimately the most polluting.
It is the largest metropolis in Europe that decided to take this step, which some strongly criticize, reminding that nothing is free and that the measure costs money. The Regional Accounting Chamber has it moreover calculated: 40 million euros per year, as Dis-Leur explained to you HERE: Exactly 42 million euros was calculated by the CRC; 29 M€ was answered by the metropolis. The group of traffic authorities says for its part that supply to the network must take priority over price.
In any case, the measure is very popular. “This is a measure that enables savings of 1,470 euros per year for, for example, a family of four”, we assure the metropolis. Very precisely, the attendance of four tram lines (the fifth is on the rails as well as the extension of line 1) and 41 bus lines increased by 23.7% compared to 2019 (before covid). Does the influx of travelers mean more unculture or, worse, delinquency…?
Rudeness dropped by 26%
No, the metropolis that created it still swears by it traffic police who did his calculations: problems have decreased by 26%, still compared to 2019: 161 non-cultures in the 1st quarter of 2019 compared to 119 in the 1st quarter of 2024. The mayor of Montpellier is thus fulfilling a campaign promise, which is was also addressed to the Yellow Vests, which should be appreciated in a wider context: former corona writers transformed into real bike paths and multiplied like carpooling (1). Moreover, in his systematic vision, the mayor of Montpellier also increased the use of bicycles. A cyclist himself, Mickaël Delafosse announces a 16% increase in 2023 in the practice of two wheels, electric or muscular.
No increase in local taxes
Mickaël Delafosse reaffirms that this free service will not lead to an increase in local taxes. With a shocking argument: a good part of this free service is funded by mobility fees paid by companies with more than eleven employees. The participation of economic actors that has progressed because the activity in Clapas is still dynamic. Stating that “amounts collected through mobility payments increased by 30 million euros from 2020. The community adds to its calculation the desire to rationalize costs, by removing two-thirds of ATMs, which represents a saving of 1.5 million euros per year.
One billion euros of investment in the mandate
This free access for all launched three years ago with free weekend access, and highlighted in 2021 with free access for under 18s and over 65s every day, applies from 21 December 2023 at 7pm to all residents of the metropolis, thus becoming visibly popular universal measure. While 140,000 vehicles enter and leave Montpellier every day (i.e. 280,000 journeys that degrade the quality of life of residents through traffic congestion and inconvenience)public transport is more energy efficient (per transported person compared to traveling by car).
In addition to the 5th tram line for 2025, the mayor promises a Bustram network (buses with a high level of service) as well as 77 additional trams and 70 electric buses. Decarbonisation of urban mobility is the stated priority of Metropole with an investment of one billion euros during the mandate (read below).
Is it possible to make public transport – buses, trams, metro – free? Preferably? For Laurent Chapelon, a professor at the University of Montpellier specializing in urban mobility, with whom we spoke HERE in 2019, before the municipal elections, it is a strong choice that commits the city to a more peaceful and lifelike path. “There is an underlying condition that plays the role of psychological shock. That’s efficiency. If free access comes at the expense of efficiency, then there is no point. This is the frequency, amplitude and coverage of the network.“
Olivier SCHLAMA
A measure favorable to trade
The first phase of free access, launched in September 2020, on weekends, for all residents of the metropolis was an economic marker to support the attractiveness of the city center and local shops. The attractiveness of the city center is confirmed: 4 million visitors between January and August 2022 in the city center, Mytraffic records an increase of 12 and 10% more than the averages recorded in 2020 and 2021. The second phase of free , launched in September 2021, for under 18 and older than 65, every day, was a social label to support the purchasing power of families and retirees.
Free access means savings of €321 per year for people over 65 and €196 per year for young people under 18. With full free access, savings will amount to €1,470 per year for a family of 4. The freedom of travel proves an increase in attendance: the day after partial free admission, the attendance of under-18s doubled; that of those over 65 years old by 1.5.
Electric bicycle accessories
38,225 grants of €500 for the purchase of VAE are awarded by Metropol (from April 11, 2024), i.e. 10% of the target population. Of the 38 comparable cycling measurement points between 2022 and 2023: the average daily number of cyclists increases by 16.2% in the Metropolis, the increase is 17.2% for the stations in Montpellier.
Application of shared travel
From March 2021, the metropolis of Montpellier introduced a shared transport offer to provide an alternative to a private car for areas that are poorly or not covered by public transport or when a journey by bicycle proves too long. This system was established for the first time with companies to create dynamism in journeys from home to work, before being opened to the general public from January 1, 2022. Montpellier Metropolis is therefore one of the pioneering metropolises on the subject. The neighboring cities, Pays de l’Or Agglomération and Sète Agglopôle Méditerranée, joined the Métropole de Montpellier in funding the joint trip.
More than 36,000 users
According to the daily carpooling barometer Blablacar Daily (formerly Klaxit), the metropolis of Montpellier has become the leading territory in France with the highest number of daily carpooling trips (excluding Île-de-France) with 31,652 trips in February 2024. For Métropole, in almost 3 years to the end of 2023, 36,000 users thus registered on the platform of the operator Klaxit (compared to 5 000 at the beginning of 2022), a total of 710,000 trips were made with a total of almost 17 million shared kilometers.
City traffic police
To support this free service, the metropolis has established the city’s traffic police since September 2023 to strengthen security on the entire bus and tram network of the metropolis. The Metropolitan Traffic Police, made up of 42 agents, work alongside 82 TaM agents for assistance, control and security.
Olivier SCHLAMA
Also read on Tell them!
Active mobility: In Montpellier, subsidized carpooling is great!
Montpellier: “With this public transport police, we want to hit hard! “