2023-09-08 05:30:09
Gare de Lyon, in Paris, December 2, 2022. STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP
This is a new record. This summer, SNCF sold 24 million train tickets on national lines (TGV, Ouigo and Intercités) and 6 million international journeys, i.e. 4% more than in the summer of 2022, which was already exceptional. “The urge to train is confirmed: it is sustainable”, greets Christophe Fanichet, CEO of the SNCF Voyageurs subsidiary. As a result, the TGV occupancy rate exceeded 80%, with 40% full trains, as in 2022, when the SNCF offered 450,000 more places this summer.
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“The most popular destinations are the Atlantic coast and the Mediterranean, continues the CEO, but green tourism has also worked well, with 6% more travelers going to the Alps and 15% to Alsace or Burgundy. » Good summer also for night trains, with 15% more passengers and 215,000 tickets sold.
Regional strategies to boost TER attendance have also paid off: over 20% attendance in Pays de la Loire and Occitanie, which have particularly attractive rates. On average, these regional trains carried 10% more passengers. Everywhere, it is leisure that is supporting demand, while business travel, which is more profitable for the SNCF, remains down 10 to 15% compared to before Covid-19.
Prices that vary according to demand
A highlight this summer was that a greater number of travelers anticipated their journey and booked much earlier. One in two purchased their ticket more than twenty-five days in advance, or a week earlier. “Full trains were full faster”explains Mr. Fanichet, hence the impression of many customers that they are struggling with an insufficient offer.
“It is also true that we have fewer TGV trains in circulation than in 2015, he admitted, but we have replaced single trains with double-decker trains, allowing us to board 630 people instead of 360. In the end, between 2013 and 2023, I have 15% more places. » The SNCF, which had increased its tickets by 5% on average at the start of the year, did not change its pricing this summer and ensures that it has not changed its policy of « yield management ». This consists of varying prices according to demand: the more a train fills up, the more expensive the seats. But with tickets going faster, prices have gone up sooner.
Christophe Fanichet nevertheless claims to have sold one in two tickets for less than 45 euros and that one in two travelers was able to take advantage of a Ouigo, the less expensive TGVs which celebrated their 10th anniversary, or a reduced rate thanks to the Advantage card. This allows, under certain conditions (round trip during the weekend, for example), to benefit from a reduction of 30% and caps the price of the ticket. On August 29, this ceiling was raised by 10 euros, rising to 49 euros for journeys of less than an hour and a half (25% of journeys), 59 euros for journeys between 1h30 and three hours (50% ) and 89 euros beyond (25%).
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