He is free… Max!
After the “young people”, with the Max Jeune offer, created in 2017, the SNCF targets the “seniors”.
This Wednesday, the railway company is launching Max Senior, an offer for people aged 60 and over.
Initially, this observation: seniors are traveling more and more, while being flexible in their days and travel times.
On arrival, this offer: for 79 euros per month, senior SNCF travelers will have access, in 2nd class, to TGV Inoui and Intercités trains with compulsory reservation, including night trains, from Monday to Friday (except night trains on Fridays), on dedicated “Max” spaces.
Objective ?
“Sliding as best as possible with young people who themselves have access to
Max
places at the weekend and, in the same logic, keeping seniors away from peak periods such as departures during school holidays, the day before and days of bridges, ”explains a spokesperson for the company.
Up to one million places offered certain months
No need to rush to the counter.
The offer is 100% digital: subscription and reservations are made online.
Subscribers will be able to travel by train as many times as they want, while booking up to a maximum of six trips at the same time.
Promised, the SNCF will not skimp on the number of “Max” seats allocated in the trains.
"Several hundred thousand places are made available each month with, for some months, more than a million places offered", argues the company.
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Moreover, less than 50% of these places today are actually used.
However, on the most popular routes (Paris-Lyon, Paris-Bordeaux, Paris-Marseille, Paris-Brittany, etc.), at the most popular times, “certain “Max” customers, inevitably, may not find anything and be disappointed …”, concedes a spokesperson for the SNCF.
100,000 subscribers to the Max Jeune card
But nothing scandalous in that, observes the National Federation of Transport User Associations (FNAUT) itself.
“At this price and with these facilities, you have to accept reductions in access to the busiest trains”, indicates Jean Lenoir, vice-president of the FNAUT.
Who continues: “The Max Senior subscription gives access to an unlimited number of trips, provided you book.
The advantage is obviously the great flexibility for the user.
On the other hand, the SNCF will have to make sure to indicate as clearly as possible the trains where the “quota” of Max senior places is low, to allow travelers to organize themselves”.
Subscribers commit for a minimum period of three months.
After this period, it is possible to terminate the subscription, with a processing fee of 15 euros, and free of charge after twelve months.
More than 50,000 senior customers make at least 10 round trips by train over a year.
The SNCF does not communicate a quantified objective, at this stage, in terms of Max Senior subscriptions.
But, by way of comparison, the railway company registers “a little less than 100,000
Max Jeune
subscribers ”, a figure that has been constant for several years.
