2023-10-19 19:39:27
Take out your Smartphone, click at the entrance and exit of the TER and that’s it. This is the spirit of Just Go, a new solution developed by SNCF Connect & Tech, a subsidiary of SNCF Voyageurs. It allows you to travel by TER without needing to purchase your ticket beforehand. It was launched at the beginning of September in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region for an “experiment”.
“You just have to register through the application in the offers or tickets tab, and press Just Go,” says Anne Pruvot, general director of SNCF Connect & Tech. Once you board a regional train, you register in the application and you are geolocated using your smartphone. » It remains to click, again, when getting off the train. If forgotten, a message is sent by the application if “we observe that the geolocation shows that the user is no longer on the train’s trajectory”, continues the manager.
Payment at the end of the month
The application then calculates the precise journey taken by the traveler and applies the corresponding fare. The user receives the invoice at the end of the month with all the trips made. “If the total amount exceeds that of a monthly subscription, then they only pay the price of the subscription,” specifies Anne Pruvot. “In fact, the user only pays for the trips they make,” continues Éric Steil, TER marketing director at SNCF Voyageurs. This is an important element, which responds to changes in uses following the health crisis, with the arrival of teleworking in particular. »
Since its launch – on the sly – at the beginning of September, “around 3,000 users” have used Just Go in New Aquitaine. Something to delight the region, chosen to experience it… or not. “I’m not going to say that I wasn’t aware of this new service, but almost! tance Renaud Lagrave, vice-president of transport in the region. The SNCF imposes it on us. I’m no longer a soft caramel, I can see the maneuver clearly. » The elected official accuses the railway company of wanting to “take back control” and “complicate the projects” carried out by the region itself.
With the opening of TER lines to competition, the regions – organizing authorities for regional trains – can also bring players into competition for the sale and distribution of train tickets. “We are planning an application, Modalis, in service from 2025, to manage ticketing and offer, among other things, credit card payments when boarding public transport,” explains Renaud Lagrave. Just Go will therefore compete with our own services. One thing is certain, we are not going to go out of our way to advertise it. »
A similar solution in Occitania
SNCF Connect, for its part, denies wanting to torpedo regional projects to remain the benchmark for users. “We want to create the best solutions to develop the use of trains and we are ready to work with all the stakeholders,” emphasizes Anne Pruvot. Furthermore, Just Go is not incompatible with the offers proposed by the organizing authorities. »
The Occitanie region, in particular, launched the “+ = Flex” offer at the beginning of August. Similar to Just Go, it allows you to board a TER without booking and pay, once inside, the lowest fare – with a ceiling of 90 euros per month. This was also the case for “FLEX TER”, launched in 2021 in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, with a company external to SNCF. “The contract has ended,” notes Éric Steil, TER marketing director at SNCF Voyageurs. We therefore turned to SNCF Connect, in agreement with the region, where train timetables are available, to make life easier for users. »And, incidentally, that all of this remains in the SNCF “house”.
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