SNCF and the Transport Regulatory Authority (ART) are at odds over the extent of the railway company’s fare increase in 2023. While the company claims not to have increased Ouigo price scales, the regulator claims that fares for this offer increased by 10% last year, reports BFM Business .
7% average increase
As a reminder, Christophe Fanichet, head of SNCF Voyageurs, indicated at the end of 2022 that the increases implemented by the company would be lower than the increase in their costs. “Between the explosion in energy prices (+180%) and inflation in other areas, our costs will increase by 13%”he had detailed. More precisely, the average increase in TGV InOui prices should therefore be limited to 5%, and the Ouigo fare scales should remain unchanged. In addition, the minimum TGV prices should not increase and one million tickets per month should continue to be offered at less than €25.
However, overall, the ART noted an increase in ” average price “ high-speed trains by 7% in 2023, with a 10% increase in Ouigo, and 5% for other services. “The prices of freely organized rail services (excluding Intercités and TER), which had fallen sharply with the health crisis, thus seem to be catching up with the consumer price index (which increased by 5% in 2023), but their evolution remains lower than the cumulative inflation observed since 2019”the regulator clarified in a note published on Thursday June 27.
A contested increase
The SNCF contested this report and provided further details. “Between 2019 and 2023, the consumer price index increased by 12.7% while the average prices of the SNCF Voyageurs TGV offer increased by only 5%”she said according to comments reported by BFM Business. In detail, taking into account inflation and the effect of the Omicron variant, still very present in the 1st quarter of 2022, the average price of high-speed trains would even be stable in 2023 compared to 2022.
Finally, in the Ouigo case, the SNCF disputes the ART figures, explaining that this increase is due to the creation of new, longer lines. “Ouigo offers more distant destinations to the South (Perpignan), Brittany (Brest) and the Atlantic coast (La Rochelle). Thus, prices are higher on more distant destinations that did not exist before. However, the price shield has been respected, as SNCF Voyageurs had committed to.”says the company.
