Aix-Marseille-Provence dusts off free public transport idea

The French metropolis shelved the concept four years ago as unfeasible, but it now wants to study the possibility once again

Back in 2019, authorities in the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis decided that introducing free public transport would be too expensive so they shelved the idea to wait for better times. It looks like these better times might have arrived because news came out that the administration is considering starting off 2024 by re-examining the possibility of implementing this public benefit to residents.

Martine Vassal, the president of the southern French metropolitan area, announced the news during the Zero Carbon Forum in the Marseille city centre. Mrs Vassal also indicated that this would be a good opportunity to survey the attitude of each of the 92 mayors in the metropolis regarding the matter.

In fact, one small regional grouping of municipalities – Pays d’Aubagne – has already been offering free transport to its residents since 2009 having established a firm tradition in that field. The Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis now considers the availability of this free benefit to only some of its residents to be unfair to the rest of them.

The question of course would not be to cancel it for the Aubagnais but rather to expand it to every one of the nearly 2 million residents of the Mediterranean metropolis.

Money is still an issue, though

Free local public transport services are gaining ground and popularity in more and more French cities, with Marseille’s Mediterranean neighbour, Montpellier, recently becoming the largest urban authority in the country to offer the benefit to its populace.

There’s also a lot of interest and demand at the grassroots level, and the reality is that any politician would like to boost their popularity by offering people free services. However, as always the problem is – lack of funding.

“I don’t know where to find these 250 million euros at the moment… either we must increase taxes or increase revenue,” quipped Martine Vassal, referring to the price tag that experts have assigned to this benefit during the last study in 2019.

Nowadays, that cost could even be higher. Nevertheless, the Metropolis President is showing her goodwill and desire to do something about this by organizing a new study to begin at the start of the new year.

One of the avenues explored would be to increase the rate of mobility payments tax (VM) from private sector companies to the Metropolis. This corporate contribution to public transport, collected by Urssaf, has been set for companies with more than 11 employees.