From this Saturday morning, the people of Nantes can go by tram to the markets of Talensac or Little Holland without a ticket or subscription.
Total free public transport in Nantes (Tan) on weekends has just come into effect on its 54 bus, “chronobus” and tram lines.
To discover
Nantes, Lyon, Bordeaux: discover our list of cities where life is good
It is valid for everyone, residents or not, from Saturday midnight to Sunday 11.59pm and even covers river shuttle connections and TERs that circulate in the metropolis.
Everyone can therefore stroll by rail on the banks of Thouaré-sur-Loire, La Chapelle-sur-Erdre or Vertou (Sèvre Nantes).
The only exception is the bus shuttle which serves Nantes-Atlantique airport from the city center.
"It's good for the climate, it's good for purchasing power and it's the translation into action of this social-ecology that we collectively carry"
legitimizes the mayor (PS) Johanna Rolland, who had made it his initial campaign promise.
One more expense for the metropolis
For Nantes Métropole, free access will represent an additional expenditure of 5 million euros from 2021. Then around 10 million euros per year, of which 3.4 million euros for operating costs and 6 million of non-revenue .
“Personally, everyone thinks this is good news. But it is a delusion to make believe that it is free. This is an additional cost that will further lead to an increase in taxes for the people of Nantes. The tourists, who are more than welcome in Nantes, will not pay anything, unlike Montpellier for example ”
criticism of Senator LR Laurence Garnier, leader of the opposition.
About thirty French cities have already pushed for total free transport, from the pioneer Compiègne (Oise), in 1975, to the largest, Montpellier, six months ago.
An already saturated network
The speed of Nantes buses and trams has not been specially revised upwards for these first free weekends, a drop in attendance linked to Covid-19 (in 2019, it was nearly 150 million travelers, up 3.4%). However, the objective is
to
"
encourage the use of public transport,
as PS vice-president in charge of transport Bertrand Affilé reminded us,
some will experiment with them thanks to free access on weekends, and perhaps be convinced that buses and trams are good alternatives to private car use. "
“In reality, it will not reduce the number of motorists much. Because often, it is not only a question of price, but especially of practicality, in particular when one lives or works in outskirts ”
tempers Dominique Romann, secretary of the Fnaut * Pays de la Loire.
Nantes Métropole already offers degressive social pricing to 60,000 inhabitants with modest incomes (out of around 160,000
“unlimited” subscribers
), 35,000 of whom are completely free.
“The big problem with urban public transport is investments. In Nantes, some links are already saturated and the network is very concentrated, ”
worries Dominique Romann. The details, much debated, of the three new tram lines 6, 7 and 8 serving the island of Nantes (325 million euros of investment) are also being arbitrated these days.
