This unlimited package wanted by Emmanuel Macron allowed young people aged 16 to 27 to travel on TER and Intercités trains for a month between July and August.
The rail pass has not achieved the objectives of the Élysée. This unlimited subscription allowing young people aged 16 to 27 to travel on TER and Intercités trains sold 235,000 copies this summer: a definite success, but a result far from the 700,000 sales hoped for by the executive, indicates Régions de France to Figaro this Monday, September 2. The institution, which represents the regions, recalls that it had not set itself an objective, unlike the President of the Republic and the former government, who had pushed this system. More than 2.3 million journeys were made, including two million by TER and 190,000 by Intercités.
A promise from Emmanuel Macron – whose ambition had however been revised downwards, this package was originally supposed to be open to everyone and all year round -, the rail pass was offered from July 1 to August 31, operating for a rolling month. The figure of 235,000 sales probably includes renewals – and therefore does not mean that 235,000 young people took advantage of it -, acknowledges Régions de France, which is awaiting the results of qualitative surveys launched among subscribers to find out more about usage.
Between 8 and 9 uses per rail pass
Each rail pass, sold for 49 euros, was used between eight and nine times on average: this is a good performance, but it is far from the profile of Marcel, the Bordeaux student who traveled nearly 13,000 kilometers in the summer thanks to his subscription and whose story Emmanuel Macron shared. “The real issue, explains Regions of France, The aim now is to understand how many young people were affected and how many were convinced, by this system, to take the train more often.” And the institution reminds us that this subscription is “a call device among others”referring to the offers aimed at young people set up by each region to promote the train.
Régions de France assures that it has had little negative feedback on the use of the rail pass, most complaining that TGVs are not part of the subscription scope. There may also have been misunderstandings, with some regions having set quotas of free places dedicated to the rail pass on busy lines, surprising subscribers who were asked to pay for certain journeys. “The information was not the most readable”observes the institution, particularly when displaying the price on ticket sales platforms.
Another difficulty revealed by the rail pass: SNCF Connect favors TGVs for long-distance journeys without offering alternative journeys with one or more TERs. The addition of a search filter has been well studied, according to Régions de France, “but it couldn’t be done on time”. Enough to support the regions in the development of their own sales tools, with gateways between them for interregional journeys. Even if a single platform offering both TGV, TER and Intercités for any journey would be easier to convince people to take the train.
