The objective is to allow users to travel anywhere in France. The Minister Delegate for Transport, Clément Beaune, announced on Wednesday February 8 that he wanted to develop within two years a « billet unique »based on the results of an innovation competition organized on Tuesday and Wednesday in Paris.
“When I came up with this idea, I was told that it would take at least ten years to do this. But I am convinced that in the space of two years, we can develop the single ticket everywhere in France”he said in an interview with 20 Minutes.
“It is through innovative and concrete solutions that we can revolutionize the daily lives of public transport users in France. The single ticket is a measure that can be deployed throughout the territory and which will facilitate all travel.explained the minister, quoted in a press release on Wednesday.
Navigo et Korrigo in examples
A hackathon, a competition for computer scientists’ ideas, was launched on Tuesday at the Cité des sciences et de l’industrie, in Paris, as part of the forum of the Innovation Agency for Transport. In the process, Mr. Beaune plans “an experiment from the end of 2023 in a certain number of voluntary territories”. A working group will be launched with the authorities organizing mobility (regions and conurbations) “in order to define the procedures for implementing a single national transport ticket”according to the press release.
The ticket allowing tomorrow to go from one region to another and/or from one network to another “can be either an app, which is obviously the easiest, or dematerialized titles recognized and read by all”explained the Minister. “We are not starting from nothing”he said, citing the examples of Navigo in Ile-de-France and Korrigo in Brittany.
“It will also be necessary to take into account people who do not know digital technology, who are older or less accustomed to this type of solution, and whom it will also be necessary to support”he acknowledged, noting that the single 49 euro per month ticket for local transport introduced in Germany will have a paper version.
Regarding a possible single tariff, “we must respect this transport decentralization policy”said Mr. Beaune, pricing being the responsibility of local authorities. “I make a distinction between the support and the fare, even if I think that the support can lead to simplifications of prices and encourage the organizing authorities to propose common prices”he added.