Some 138 million trips were recorded in 2022 in public transport in the Nantes conurbation, announced this Friday Semitan. A figure well above 2021 (+18%) but which remains below 2019 (148 million trips), the reference year before Covid. “We are at 90% of our attendance in 2019”, underlines Olivier Le Grontec, director of the TAN, which puts forward the development of telework, a reduction in travel and a transfer to cycling as explanations. The ability to regain a substantial volume of traffic, after three complicated years, is a major challenge for the company. “We can hope to get there by the end of 2023,” said the director. The good news is that attendance has been close to 95% for the past few weeks. We have also registered 6,000 additional subscribers since September. »
The passenger deficit is concentrated during the week since weekend attendance is up 15% compared to 2019, thanks to the free network. “The success is indisputable. There are people who did not use public transport before who now do, ”says Olivier Le Grontec. A somewhat special case, the Navibus lines are even overwhelmed on Saturdays and Sundays. “We will not have the means to increase the Navibus offer for two days”, he specifies.
The new trams are coming
The year 2023 will also be distinguished by the long-awaited arrival of new tramway trains, with a higher capacity (300 seats compared to 250 currently). Sixty-one trains have been ordered from the manufacturer Alstom, but 14 will be delivered, to begin with, in the spring. Commercial commissioning will take place from the fall, in dribs and drabs. Four generations of trams will therefore run on the network at the same time. By the end of 2024, the new trams should all have replaced the aging Alstom trains dating from 1985.
Another expected project: the modernization of passenger information and ticketing in order to “reinforce multimodality”. Work to extend tram line 1 and build a multi-modal interchange hub should also enter its active phase at Babinière, while field studies for future lines 6 (tram), 7 (tram ) and 8 (busway) will be launched.
Semitan also hopes that it will manage to resolve its recruitment difficulties in 2023, in particular for the driver profession. The shortage is national and it also affects subcontracting companies, creating service degradations on secondary lines and a understandable grumbling from users. “We are trying to respond to this by forming professionalization contracts,” replies the director.
Finances under high pressure
On a financial level, 2023 will be the year when the TAN will really see its energy bill soar. Its favorable contracts on gas and electricity having expired, the management foresees an increase in its expenditure of an “annual amount of 20 to 25 million euros”, due to the energy crisis. “It is extremely important. We don’t have the means to deal with it ourselves. The metropolis will help us, ”says Olivier Grontec.
A group purchase with other local authorities is scheduled for gas. But an increase in the prices of tickets and subscriptions, by a higher percentage than in previous years, is above all envisaged by the metropolis, from July 1. A slight rationalization of the transport offer has already been implemented.
Another delicate subject, that of the salary increase demanded by the TAN staff representatives within the framework of the NAO. The unions, who demonstrated at the entrance to the vows ceremony on Friday, hope to offset inflation and aim for a increase in point value by at least 5%. Management proposes a revaluation of 3.4%. “We are in an extremely constrained financial context. Discussions are still ongoing,” says Olivier Le Grontec.