Almost free TEC buses: “It was a great promise but the check was wooden”, maintains Minister Desquesnes

Questioned this Tuesday morning in committee of the Walloon Parliament, the minister explained himself. And took the opportunity to “shoot” his predecessor, the Ecolo Philippe Henry. Which was not enough to convince the opposition.

Unraveling

“What hypocrisy in this mattersoupire Germain Mugemangango (PTB). You make statements to say that you question almost free access for 18-24 year olds, while your political party has defended exactly the opposite. In your program, page 171, you plan to expand the measure. This is a step in the wrong direction, for young people first. But also for families and for purchasing power.”

Ecolo Stéphane Hazée’s concern also concerns the minister’s methodology. “There is no decision yet. You say that the evaluation has not yet taken place but that the measure has no impact on bus ridership. What about this assessment? You seem to have already made up your mind. Do you really think that it is by increasing the price that attendance will be different?“

At the PS, Melissa Hanus recalls that the current rate also responds to a social imperative: “For 18-24 year olds, it’s about being able to make ends meet. We are talking about a loss of 280 euros for the young people concerned. One of the criticisms made of politicians is that as soon as there is a change of government, the new ones undo what the previous ones did…“

In the LE and MR majority, deputies Jean-Paul Bastin and Arnaud Dewez believe that it is healthy for a new government to put things back to normal, via an evaluation.

“What my predecessor did not have the courage to do…”

We feel that the minister is eager to respond. According to the figures available to him and the reports from the TEC, the number of passengers is not taking off.

However, we have clearly heard the message hammered home by the MR/LE coalition since July: all public policy will be evaluated.to measure the efficiency of each euro spent. I intend to do it without taboo or preconceptions.“

“In this context, the public service contract is a fundamental tool.“But during the budgetary work in October, when he dissected the current contract in effect since January 2024, he was surprised.”We are talking about an ‘indicative trajectory’ of financing, an indicative programming.“And he notes that, at the end of 2023, the commitments signed by his predecessor are not”not covered budgetarily. It’s a wooden check to the OTW.”

Just caution? “Fauxhe proclaims. The proof is the almost free TEC.”

And he begins his demonstration: “Do you know how the project was financed in 2024? Not by the annual TEC allocation, no. Most of the cost was financed by Wallonia’s recovery plan. So it is not structural financing but a one-off recovery budget“, he says. “There have already been 31 million in 2023, again in 2024 with 30 million. Even stronger: as the envelope was insufficient, we still had to find 19 million euros to pay for it.”

He comes to his high point: these 19 million, the previous government went to fish for it in another project of the recovery plan, “dedicated to the reconstruction of regional infrastructure affected by the floods of July 2021! So, frankly, in these conditions, is it credible to blame me for abandoning the project?“

He further underlines that the previous government planned in December 2021 to link the quasi-free payment to the management contract “subject to a positive evaluation of this measure“. “A commitment not kept in 2024. What I am doing today is what my predecessor never had the courage to do.”he summarizes.

“At least your predecessor fought”

He therefore requested an evaluation from the OTW, in addition to a simplification of the price list.too complex today“. He specifies that social tariffs, “linked to the Walloon plan to get out of poverty“, are not part of the lot.

“It is therefore thanks to the recovery plan that the expense was able to be covered. The promises in the public service contract were fine but the check was bogus. The TEC therefore did not have the slightest guarantee that the means to achieve the ambitious objectives would be assured. So, we need a new public service contract, solid, budgeted and above all kept. A firm budgetary trajectory and precise objectives not with a catalog of fantastic but unfunded promises.“

At the PTB, we do not deny a comma from the initial question: “This government is sending two signals: we are going to attack families and their purchasing power. And young people will not be this government’s priority“, summarizes Germain Mugemangango.

At Ecolo, Stéphane Hazée notes that the government “confirms its trajectory of disinvestment from the TEC. You have the leisure to criticize and stage documents that have been public for more than a year. But your predecessor fought to invest in public transportation every year.“

As for the evaluation, “we still don’t know anything about it. Criteria, methodology…“Virtually free sacrificed in the name of rebalancing between age groups? “We could indeed extend it to 12-17 year olds, to those over 24. Let’s go! But from these arguments, you are doing exactly the opposite. It is therefore a complete deception, when we read elsewhere the electoral program of the Engagés.“

At the PS, Melissa Hanus notes that it is “always the same with the right:”You contrast price accessibility and accessibility of the offer. Almost free is 57 million out of the 800 million of OTW’s total budget. It’s not just a question of a recovery plan or an opportunity. It’s a question of political choice.”