You have just received the dreaded SMS, the one announcing that your train is canceled for the Christmas weekend because of the controllers' strike.
About 200,000 travelers will find themselves in this situation.
Here are our tips and advice to be sure to spend New Year's Eve with the family, knowing that the solutions can obviously prove to be more expensive than the train ticket booked months in advance.
But as the SNCF has undertaken by the voice of one of its managers to reimburse up to 200% the travelers who will not be able to travel, all you have to do is do your calculations.
Think… of the train!
The advice may seem counter-intuitive and yet… Do not neglect rail transport when finding a solution to circumvent the strike in the railways.
With one principle: get away from high-speed networks and agree to spend a little more time on the train.
To reach your destination, consider the TER network, in particular, less affected by the movement of controllers.
Few users know this, but an SNCF Internet page – not accessible from the SNCF Connect application – allows you to enter your departure and arrival stations.
You just have to think about unchecking the “High-speed trains” box and you have the secondary network.
An example ?
To reach Paris from Lyon on December 24 in the early afternoon, the journey will take 5h23 and will take you through Vichy (Allier), where you will have to wait 38 minutes.
You will arrive in the capital shortly before 8 p.m. after departing from the Rhône at 2:34 p.m. for a total cost of 57.20 euros.
Ditto between Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine) and Paris, a route very affected by the strike since ten out of ten TGVs now appear to be canceled on Christmas Eve.
You will board a train in the direction of Caen before making a stopover in Folligny and reaching Paris after 4h37 of travel and 45.30 euros.
Once your journey has been traced by the website, all you have to do is buy the corresponding tickets on SNCF Connect.
To read also Strike at the SNCF: “I pay 40 euros more, and I will spend my day in a TER”
But also carpooling...
In this already busy period, the BlaBlaCar carpooling platform, which has 20 million subscribers, recorded Tuesday, December 20 twice as many reservations as the same day last week.
“For the coming weekend, there are still 300,000 places left”, informs us a spokesperson, who nevertheless specifies that “all this is changing very quickly”.
Places are taken, while drivers register at the last minute.
A Paris-Lyon is negotiated between 29 and 50 euros, depending on the case.
… or rental between individuals
Owners whose car had to stay in the garage during the holidays felt the bargain.
A so-called “car sharing” platform, car rental between individuals, Getaround has seen its reservations jump 30% since Sunday – the day when the rumor of a strike swelled.
“But the vehicle occupancy rate is only 60%, so there are still plenty of places, especially in Paris,” the company points out.
For a rental from Paris, count rather 50 or 60 euros per day, against 40 euros in normal times.
Suffice to say that the price for this holiday weekend is close to that of professional rental companies.
By typing the code "PLANB" when booking, you can still benefit from a 10 euro discount.
Another player in the sector, Ouicar has also noticed that the reservation rate has increased "in the space of two to three days, from 35 to 59%", as noted by its CEO Benoît Sineau.
Count for rental on a daily average of 30 euros for small models to 70 euros for high-end cars.
Read also Strike at the SNCF: reimbursement, voucher ... what are you entitled to if your train is canceled?
Still a few seats on the buses
As with every strike, users report in numbers on the buses.
If those of BlaBlaCar are "already 90% reserved", according to a spokesperson, journeys from Paris to Strasbourg, Lyon and Nantes, in particular, should be doubled and go from one to two departures per day.
There is still time to try your luck, then.
At Flixbus, there is an increase in reservations of 20 to 25% with buses that are increasingly full.
Between Lyon and Paris, on December 23, it will be necessary to pay at least 79 euros to move.
Another solution: agree to unwrap the gifts on the morning of the 25th, traveling at night (departure at 7 p.m. from Paris for an arrival at 1 a.m.).
In this case, it will cost you 35 euros.
And the plane?
Air France will not include additional aircraft in its flight plan.
On the other hand, "there are a few places left", in particular on the shuttle flights that are Paris-Toulouse, Paris-Marseille and Paris-Nice, on condition, however, of being able to pay the price... and not to think of the impact carbon!
In terms of prices, for a Paris-Toulouse with a departure on the 22nd and a return on the 27th, count 220 euros for an adult.
Car rental companies on the run
You will need a little luck to find the rare pearl.
The vehicle rental market is saturated.
And the strike only accentuated a phenomenon that has persisted since the health crisis.
It will therefore be necessary to be flexible on the dates by accepting, for example, to rent the car one or two days earlier and to do the same for the return.
A formula that is not necessarily economical, especially since the rates for the end-of-year celebrations are traditionally high.
The parade can consist of betting on an electric car.
At the start-up Carlili, which offers to deliver and pick up the vehicle at your home, you can still find Teslas at the price of 100 euros for the Christmas weekend (charging included).
Vincent Moindrot, its CEO, gives this advice: “Get delivered, not necessarily to your home, but, for example, as far as possible from city centers to avoid traffic jams”.
