Containment: the Navigo Pass can be reimbursed, announces Valérie Pécresse

Good news for Ile-de-France residents: transport subscriptions will be reimbursed in April in Ile-de-France, to help those who have to travel and compensate those who have opted for an annual formula and are confined to their homes. "I will propose to the board of directors of Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM), which I chair, full reimbursement of the Navigo Pass, but also of the senior Navigo and the Imagin'R card, to all subscribers, for the month of April ”, indicates the president of the region, Valérie Pécresse, in the Sunday newspaper this March 29th.

The measure will affect those who buy a monthly subscription "to go to work for essential functions for the country" and those who are confined to their homes and who had bought an annual subscription, she said. They will have to connect in May on a dedicated platform to be reimbursed, as after the strike in January, at a cost estimated at “more than 100 million euros” for IDFM, according to Valérie Pécresse.

10% of usual traffic

“Frequenting of Ile-de-France transport currently stands at 10% of usual traffic, which normally stands at 5 million travelers per day. So there are still 500,000 people performing essential functions in the country, who need public transportation, ”she said.

Valérie Pécresse refuses, however, to make Ile-de-France transport free, which according to her would be "an incentive to move totally contrary to the spirit of confinement". “It is also out of the question to leave the gates open to those who, in certain districts, do not respect confinement. I am thinking of the gangs of young people who believe that they are safe and do not realize that they can spread the virus ”, according to the elected official.

Those who bought a monthly subscription in March and have not used it for a good part of the month are left with their fees.

As for holders of an annual subscription, they cannot suspend their subscription during confinement, because the procedure requires going to a counter before the 20th of the previous month. "We could not send a million people to the counters in full containment," said Valérie Pécresse, who still refuses to consider the situation in May and June.

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