Overcome blockages through technology. A creed endorsed by Transport Minister Clément Beaune by launching a hackathon, a programming marathon, to find the technical solution to achieve a single transport ticket as quickly as possible. And it starts this Wednesday with the selection of the pilot project for experimentation as soon as possible. For 20 minutesClément Beaune talks about this project which will “make it easier” for our daily lives.
Why tackle the complex project of the single title?
Since I arrived at the Ministry of Transport, a little over six months ago, I have been very struck by the fact that, when we think of transport, we first think of major infrastructures. Obviously if we want to develop public transport, we need train lines, trams, metros… But we neglect too much what is service, use, innovation. However, we realize that the attractiveness of public transport on a daily basis also depends a lot on the service provided in terms of safety, cleanliness, passenger information, compensation, ease of access, etc. This is exactly the spirit of the mobility orientation law, which the Prime Minister brought.
And then, I look at what is being done in other cities, in major European countries. In Germany, for example, there is a lot of talk about a 49 euro ticket being put in place. The real revolution is that they will move towards a single ticket: a single transport ticket, paper or dematerialized, for all daily transport. The Netherlands have done it, the Swiss are committed to it, Austria is also thinking about it. The countries most committed to the ecological transition are in the process of doing so. The single ticket to simplify the lives of users is a real revolution in transport.
How do you plan to launch this project?
We launched a hackathon and we have more than 70 responses. Among the participants, you have start-ups, major transport operators such as RATP or SNCF, students who want to get started. We will select a solution with a jury that brings together everyone, the State, representatives of regions, cities, metropolises. Local communities have given very positive feedback. Everyone thinks we have to do it and we can do it in a few months.
What timeline do you plan on?
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. After this hackathon, we will support, via the Transport Innovation Agency, the chosen solution(s) so that they are operational for experimentation from the end of 2023 in a certain number of voluntary territories. Obviously, it has to be in relatively large areas. The idea is to remove a certain number of titles to have a single ticket at the level of a region or a department.
Advancing on the form, as you do, does it allow to overcome the blockages on the bottom?
I think that with this everyday revolution, we’re going to pull a thread that will undoubtedly have lots of applications. There will be a lot more transparency. We know that when you travel between New Aquitaine and Occitanie, in the Bordeaux-Toulouse direction, you have a certain fare, but you have another fare for the other direction, because it is not the same region that is responsible for pricing. It creates mistrust among users who feel like they are being ripped off. The single ticket makes it easier and we know that the easier public transport is to use, the more it is used. You also facilitate intermodality, the use of several means of transport during a single trip.
What form could this actually take?
It can be either an app, which is obviously the easiest, or dematerialized titles recognized and read by everyone. Digital has the advantage of allowing both reading and payment at different terminals. Afterwards, 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. Germany has done this in recent months. They have both developed a new application and paper titles for people who are less familiar with using digital.
We are not starting from nothing. At the regional level, we already have single tickets. In Ile-de-France, you have the same pass whether you take the bus, metro, tram or RER. Brittany has launched the Korrigo card. And the future is even to add services to these passes. For example, with the Navigo pass, you have certain reductions on carpooling.
And do you then plan to move towards a single tariff?
This transport decentralization policy must be respected, so it is not up to the State to tell the regions what their supply and the price of transport is, it is their responsibility. I distinguish between the support and the price, even if I think that the support can lead to simplifications of prices and encourage the organizing authorities to propose common prices.
How do you fund this project?
The support phase, we will finance it. After for the deployment, it is still necessary to encrypt. For example, if it is necessary to revise a little the ticketing, the computer systems, there will be some investments to be made and it will obviously be each community that will do it. But if there is enthusiasm for this, state support is possible, I have no problem with this idea.
When you talk about use and service, you can’t help but think of the user experience, UX, very fashionable in the world of start-ups promoted by Emmanuel Macron. Is it voluntary?
Sometimes in our public actions, major projects take 5, 10 or 15 years and in the meantime, daily life does not change. This culture of service which improves daily life which respects the user, I think is very important and I try to make it a political axis. When there was the Christmas strike at the SNCF, I asked the SNCF to make an exceptional commercial gesture. It does not compensate for the missed train but it respects the customer.
What if the experiment doesn’t work?
We will improve it! But the idea that it’s impossible, I don’t believe in it. Since other countries have done it, we are no less intelligent than them. If Germany does it, I don’t see why we wouldn’t be able to do it. We have good transport operators, very good innovators, communities that want to and a government that has this ambition.
From your past as Secretary of State for European Affairs, do you believe in a single European transport ticket?
Of course, I dream of it in the years to come. There too, I am pragmatic and very concrete. On January 22, there was a Franco-German summit and we announced with my German counterpart 60,000 free youth tickets which will be distributed from this summer to simply travel between the two countries. We are going to try to benefit from it, especially young people who have little means, who rarely travel, for example, to apprenticeship centres. It is also a step in this direction. If Germany and France achieve the single title in the coming months, we can make a European initiative that works.