Who will pay the Covid-19 bill for Ile-de-France transport?
The regional transport authority Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) or the State?
Still, IDFM confirmed this Monday to AFP to have suspended its payments to RATP and SNCF, for lack of having reached an agreement with the state.
Valérie Pécresse (Libres!), President of IDFM, she is asking for a subsidy of 1.3 billion euros to compensate for the losses linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The standoff continues with the government.
"Île-de-France Mobilités has suspended payments to RATP and SNCF," a spokesperson for the institution chaired by Valérie Pécresse told AFP, adding that "tight negotiations continue with Matignon".
IDFM pays around 400 million euros to RATP and 300 million to SNCF every month, on the 20th and 24th of each month.
The board of directors of the regional authority approved on September 14 the principle of such a suspension if a compromise was not found with the government.
"Whatever the cost cannot stop at the gates of Île-de-France"
Without this 1.3 billion, IDFM estimates that it will have to give up certain infrastructure works and orders for rolling stock, reduce the transport supply, and increase the price of Navigo. “Me, I refuse. Whatever the cost can not stop at the gates of Île-de-France, said Valérie Pécresse. There is no question that Ile-de-France residents will be treated less well than Londoners, Germans or New Yorkers. She therefore decided to temporarily suspend monthly payments to RATP and SNCF.
IDFM relies on the “review clause” contained in the protocol signed with the State in September 2020 after having already suspended its payments to the two public operators for the same reasons last year.
This indeed provides for a “reassessment of the situation in the event of further loss of resources attributable to the health situation”.
However, IDFM forecasts for the current year losses of the order of 1.3 billion euros corresponding - for about one billion - to the decline in tariff revenue and - for about 300 million euros - to that of payments. mobility, the tax paid by companies.
For the 2020 losses, IDFM had obtained from the State 1.45 billion euros in reimbursable advance and 150 million in subsidy.
