This Thursday, all political actors in Hérault signed a commitment: to apply for Serm (Metropolitan Regional Express Services). This includes strengthening and densifying like never before all existing means of transport in part of the Occitanie region: Montpellier, Sète, Hauts-Cantons de l’Hérault and Gard by promoting intermodality. Almost a million people were affected. A series of offers to encourage residents to use the car less. All that remains is the government’s green light and funding…
After Toulouse, Montpellier. At the first meetings of Urban Mobility and Territories, in Toulouse, on January 24, political leaders defended the idea of a “metropolitan RER” in the Pink City, as Dis-Leurs explained it to you HERE. To free the urban area of eToulouse from annoying traffic jams by offering a range of alternative transport options to the car. It will not be a commuter train, but a plan for better accessibility to the metropolis, improving interconnections and, in order to achieve this, creating new infrastructure.
The file was submitted in March for a decision in the summer. There remains the tricky issue of financing, which amounts to at least several hundred million euros… Jean-Luc Moudenc specified last March that, according to “Elected officials specialized in that issue, the cost would be around 15 billion euros or even 30 billion euros…”
Toulouse and Montpellier: “Two equal projects”
In Montpellier, the same fight: break traffic jams in some of the most congested cities in France. “There will be no war for territory; we need two Sermas, in Toulouse and Montpellier”, formulated by Jean-Luc Gibelin. There, too, meetings were organized this Thursday to demonstrate the striking power of all that the Montpellier Basin and its area of attraction brings together elected officials “political consensus”as has been said Michaël Delafosse, mayor of Montpellier and Jean-Luc Gibelin, vice-president of the Occitanie region. In this territory of almost a million inhabitants (+ 1.7% per year) including the upper cantons of Hérault, the east of this department and a good part of the Garda and which comes close to 170,000 daily trips, “We need state certification in the same way as the hub and spoke project in Toulouse. These are two equal projects. They too need to be financed…”, explained Jean-Luc Gibelin, reminding that all communities of communes, all political actors in this territory signed with both hands.
Trains, buses, metro, trams, bicycles…
Therein lies the problem. The government – the law gave shape to the future Metropolitan regional express services (Serm) 18.12.2023 – explains that it will be roughly speaking, a project confirmed for each of the thirteen French regions. And only the plans for the issuance of Sansonnet rupees: barely €767 million for all projects, and each one amounts to billions of euros… It is about densifying the public transport network.
Trains, buses, metro, trams, bicycles, but also paths intended for bicycles and buses. It also means a gain from higher train frequency (we’re talking 10 to 15 minutes during peak hours); earlier and later in the day; optimize intermodality and, above all, invest heavily in infrastructure and fleet…
Project for the next ten years. And the final answer will be given by the end of the year. Furthermore, the vice-president of France Urbaine, in charge of mobility, Michaël Delafosse must have been very dissuaded by the echoes of the government, including because the current minister of transport, Patrice Vergriete, who was the mayor of Dunkirk, showed the way to free public transport that followed Montpellier. And yes he “he knows that we have to support the territories on this topic. This Serm cannot escape us.”
Eight more trains a day between Montpellier and Nîmes, twelve more between Sète and Nîmes
Jean-Luc Gibelin again: “The Montpellier project is very original because it connects municipalities, urban areas, etc.” This includes adding eight more trains a day between Montpellier and Nîmes, an overcrowded line, and twelve extra trains between Sète and Nîmes during peak hours; use it to increase the amplitude, from 5 am to 11 pm (Carole Delga mentions more than 100 trains a day). In the same way, allow “fast buses” to circulate if possible in special lanes, between 6 am and 10 pm, etc.
Michael Delafosse: “Historical Obligation”
The president of the metropolis, Michaël Delafosse spoke about “historic commitment: for the first time we are all together, all elected officials, here to talk about mobility”. Enough to tell the state that the road is halfway covered: “Management is united. It is a challenge that must be taken seriously (…) People don’t care about administrative borders; what they want are solutions for their journey: a better transport offer, performance. It is land use planning.”
The mayor of Montpellier repeated that a “One, simple, readable transport ticket, on a smartphone, will be essential.” And let me add: “We have the highest population growth in the country; for a long time local actors were the ones who financed the infrastructure. So yes, LGV is finally underway, but if Macron wants to respond to the environmental and social crisis, this file must be kept, marked and financed by the state.” It also depends on the progress of the LGV which should free up train routes.
Start “express buses”, bring back the former A 9
Michaël Delafosse took several examples such as “fast buses” that could materialize in their own location west of Montpellier and very interestingly: “We asked that a lane be reserved on this new road for buses that could connect to tram lines 3, 5 and 1 to the SNCF Sud de France station. He also spoke about the future of the former A 9, which became an urban boulevard, but retained the status of a highway… The idea is for the state to return that bitumen strip to the metropolis or region so that works can be carried out there and dimensioned, for example on the Zénith roundabout, as in Lyon or Grenoble, with an integration route in Odysséum.”
Olivier SCHLAMA
“RER” popular among residents
According to the Ifop survey on the transport and travel habits of the inhabitants of the urban area of Montpellier, users say “yes” to Serma Montpellier Méditerranée!
– 46 minutes is the average daily travel time reported by respondents;
– 69% of respondents mainly use their car for daily trips in or around Montpellier;
– 71% of residents are satisfied with public transport in Occitania, compared to the national average of 64%;
– 49% are ready to part with their personal vehicle for daily trips;
– 49% of residents gave up public transport because of an inappropriate timetable and 40% because of poor access;
– Time, price and availability are 3 key criteria when choosing daily transport;
– 85% is for the development of metropolitan RERs in Occitania.
Also read on Tell them!
File: Toulouse and Montpellier are doing their best to break traffic jams
Attendance jumped by 23%: Free trams and buses for everyone, there is transport in Montpellier!
Transport: “Metropolitan RERs are a necessity, a need in Occitania”
Toulouse: Delga, Moudenc and Vincini apply together for the metropolitan “RER”