the essential
Since October 1, 2024, parking at the Montauban SNCF station (Tarn-et-Garonne) has become chargeable, to the great dismay of train users but also of people who live in the Villebourbon district or who come to work there… and have very difficult to find a parking space. The subject came up again on Monday evening, November 25, at the municipal council where Mayor Marie-Claude Berly made an important announcement.
This is the subject that is annoying at the moment in Montauban: parking around the SNCF station and in general in this district of Villebourbon.
Monday, November 25, 2024, at the end of the municipal council meeting, Arnaud Hilion, opposition councilor, read an oral question that he had previously addressed in writing to the mayor of Montauban Marie-Claude Berly, as stipulated in the internal regulations . “Following the paid passage of the station car park since October 1, the situation has become anarchic, in terms of parking, in the neighborhoods around the station. Vehicles are parked on the sidewalks, disturbing pedestrians; road users the SNCF have no alternative but to park wherever they can; the teachers and staff of the Jean-Jaurès college sometimes spend almost an hour circling without finding a place; the traders see their customers deserting to go to places; commercial areas where parking is plentiful… Even station users who choose to come by bike do not find enough rings to attach their bikes”, describes the elected socialist.
Pointing out the responsibility of the town hall, Arnaud Hilion considers that “this umpteenth lack of anticipation has once again penalized the people of Montalban in their daily lives and disrupts the entire life and economy of a neighborhood”. And to question Marie-Claude Berly: “How do you intend to quickly resolve this parking problem which arises from the choices you have made, choices which clearly do not meet the real needs of residents and users?”
“Thank you for your moral lesson,” responds the mayor of Montauban, for which “it is fortunate that we have taken things head on”. She recalls that the City, which for 10 years had been paying rent of €300,000 annually to SNCF Réseaux, owner of this car park, wanted to denounce this agreement “because there was no question of accepting that the price of this rent would double “even though the municipality had taken charge of the cleaning and development of this car park where it had installed lighting and video surveillance cameras. The town hall of Montauban had proposed to the SNCF to buy this parking lot, which it had refused.
Marie-Claude Berly announces that “a meeting is scheduled for November 29 very early in the morning with SNCF Réseaux to find solutions with them”. Meeting at which the Occitanie Region, responsible for transport, should be present. “Carole Delga offered to work with us,” confirms the mayor of Montauban. The two communities will not be too much to convince SNCF Réseaux to offer train users a less expensive subscription for access to this car park… and also allow residents of the neighborhood to benefit from a few parking spaces in this car park of the station, managed for almost two months by Effia, a subsidiary of SNCF Gare et Connexions.
