Ouigo has his eyes on the future.
After eight years of existence and 70 million passengers transported, the low-cost subsidiary of SNCF wants to ramp up and attract more and more passengers to its blue and pink trains.
With the prices as the main argument.
Ticket prices start at € 10 and the company ensures that 60% of users have traveled for less than € 25 in France.
This Thursday, the company unveiled the new features that await travelers in the coming weeks, as well as its objectives for the years to come.
Destinations, classic speed offer, renovated trains ...
Le Figaro
takes stock.
Read alsoSNCF: does the “Advantage” card really signal the end of expensive tickets?
Skiing and the Alps in winter, the Atlantic coast in summer ... New seasonal destinations
The ski season starts in November in the Alps. Good news, Ouigo is renewing the link between Île-de-France and the Tarentaise valley (Savoie), inaugurated last winter. From December 16 to March 28, 2022, a daily return trip will be offered between
Roissy CDG Airport and Bourg-Saint-Maurice
, via Marne-la-Vallée - Chessy, Lyon Saint-Exupéry, Grenoble, Albertville, Moûtiers- Salins-Brides-les-Bains and Aime-la-Plagne. Tickets go on sale October 6.
From spring to summer, the company is boosting its offer to Brittany. The line between
Roissy CDG Airport and Quimper
(via Rennes, Vannes, Auray and Lorient), tested on weekends in July and August, will run again next year over a longer period (from April to September 2022) and at a higher frequency (one round trip daily).
In 2023, a daily round trip will be offered all year round from
Paris-Montparnasse to Brest and Quimper
.
A link to
La Rochelle
via Poitiers, Niort and Surgères will also be launched, initially with a return trip from Friday to Monday, then every day during the summer and school holidays.
Finally, the Ouigo to Montpellier will be extended to
Perpignan
(via Sète, Agde, Béziers and Narbonne) on a seasonal basis from the second quarter of 2023.
Read alsoNight trains: two new lines will open in December
An Ouigo at classic speed and at a fixed price with old Corail trains
Ouigo will be experimenting from spring 2022 and for two years with a range of long-distance trains at conventional speed, a kind of low-cost version of the Intercités. His particuliarity ? The prices, between 10 and 30 € depending on the distance and the dates, will remain fixed from the opening of sales (to D-45) until the day of departure. "
All passengers on the same train will pay the same price, whether they anticipate or book at the last minute,
" said Alain Krakovitch, director of Voyages SNCF.
"
These trains are primarily aimed at travelers who are more attached to low prices than high speed
," he continued.
The objective is to compete with the road, whether it be the private car, carpooling or the coach
”.
The trains used will be Corail trainsets restored and decorated in the inverted colors of Ouigo (pink and blue).
The original seats, particularly appreciated by travelers for their comfort, will remain the same.
Two lines will be launched:
Paris Austerlitz-Nantes
via Chartres, Le Mans and Angers (northern branch) or via Blois, Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, Saumur and Angers (southern branch) in around 3h30 (3 daily round trips);
Paris Bercy-Lyon Perrache
via Dijon, Chalon-sur-Saône and Mâcon in around five hours (2 round trips daily).
Read alsoThe SNCF will launch pink Ouigo, cheap and at low speed
Skip the line, choice of seat ... Ouigo Essentiel and Ouigo Plus, two new options
From October 6, the opening date of sales for trips from December 12 to summer 2022, travelers will be able to choose between two new services:
Ouigo Essentiel
, identical to the current offer, with à la carte options such as additional baggage (€ 5), choice of seat (€ 3, or € 7 for solo seats) and, in trains that are available equipped, access to "Ouifi" (€ 3) and the Ouifun entertainment system (€ 5): films, series, podcats ...
Ouigo Plus
, designed as a package, which includes all of these options.
Express boarding (skip-the-line) will be offered from Paris train stations exclusively to customers opting for this service.
It will be sold for € 7 when it launches on October 6, then around € 9.
It will be free for children under 12.
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Our 10 favorites
Holds for all, bike escapes ... Trains soon to be renovated
The renovated Ouigo will have more comfortable seats.
Ouigo
SNCF wants to increase the number of Ouigo trainsets from 38 today to 50 by 2025. In addition to the arrival of new trains (in reality old TGV Duplex converted to Ouigo standards), the current trains will be subject to a renovation from 2025. Each place will have an electrical outlet and each train can accommodate up to eight bicycles.
The seats will be
"more robust and comfortable"
, promises the SNCF.
A convivial space - a sort of lounge - will be set up in cars 4 and 14. However, there will be no catering service as is the case in the Ouigo cars which have been circulating in Spain since last May.
To read also In Spain, the SNCF offers a Ouigo with first class and bar
IN VIDEO - In Spain, SNCF is launching a top-of-the-range Ouigo with first class and bar