“The games of the rich”, “the Paris Olympics without the Parisians”, etc. Since the announcement of special pricing which doubles the price of certain public transport tickets by Valérie Pécresse, president of Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM), the union organizing public transport in the region, the reactions of users are doing well and, let’s face it, are rarely positive. Several elected officials in the region were even surprised to learn of this measure without having been consulted.
Among them, Emmanuel Grégoire, first deputy mayor of Paris and Pierre Rabadan, deputy in charge of sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, sent a letter to Valérie Pécresse this Wednesday, to express their disagreement and request an urgent meeting on this subject. For 20 minutesEmmanuel Grégoire explains his motivations.
In your letter, you ask Valérie Pécresse to cancel this measure to maintain the “usual prices” for the duration of the Games. What opposes you to the decision of the regional president?
This is simply an unjustified and unjustifiable measure. I understand that some people might say that at first glance the idea of sparing Ile-de-France residents and making tourists pay is not stupid. But in reality, that’s not at all what’s going to happen. Such a measure will create immense side effects.
For Ile-de-France residents?
For everyone. In terms of form, this creates terrible confusion. First of all, to have made people who are not concerned believe that prices would increase for them too. Then for the punitive side of things. And not just for tourists, which is already questionable. If Valérie Pécresse wants to open the question of ad hoc pricing for tourists on a permanent basis, so be it, let’s open the discussion. But this is neither the right time nor the right way to do it.
And on the merits, you dispute that the words of Valérie Pécresse: “There is no question of the Ile-de-France residents paying this cost”…
What about everyone who doesn’t have a regular, regular subscription? Those who take a ticket as needed or a weekly subscription? During Paris’s candidacy, we carried the idea of popular games. We had also proposed the idea of free transport. Finally, in December 2022, at the Board of Directors of Cojo (the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games), we collectively agreed to maintain current prices due to budgetary imperatives. It was not, then, a question of doubling prices. Especially since I don’t see how to avoid passing on the cost of transport to Ile-de-France residents who represent a large part of the visitors expected for the Games.
Among the very punctual users of public transport, are you thinking of volunteers for the Olympic Games?
Yes absolutely, this measure will have disastrous effects for them. I am thinking, in particular, of all the participants in the city’s “Games volunteer” program. IDFM projections show a cost of 140 euros for two weeks of presence at the Games. This is why we ask for free access for them. They come to give time for the success of this party, that’s normal.
But I also think of all the sectors concerned by games. All these seasonal workers who will come to Paris or Île-de-France to work in restaurants, shops, as security guards… Very often precarious workers. They will be the lifeblood of the Games, we don’t have to make them pay double the price.
I think it’s a very bad gas plant in method, and unfair in substance.
However, Valérie Pécresse mentions a cost for the region due to the Paris 2024 Olympics, who will pay it?
But everyone, everyone who will pay for transport, Ile-de-France residents and tourists alike. As it normally happens. I don’t know what the expected revenue from the special pricing would be, but it would be starving. A microscopic budgetary issue compared to the major challenges of Île-de-France Mobilités and its annual budget of ten billion euros. It is false to say that this special pricing is necessary. On the other hand, it would impose specific pricing logistics which would require all machines, distributors, etc. to be configured. And this would induce a cost which must not be negligible.
And let me tell you, communication about this makes no sense. On the one hand, Valérie Pécresse declares that it will not be the Ile-de-France residents who will pay, and on the other, IDFM announces that they will ensure that tourists anticipate so as not to have to pay full price. This is an electoral argument that does not hold up.
You request an emergency meeting from the regional president, do you think you will be heard?
We are forced to do so since we learned about this measure, like the Parisians, in the media. We were in no way involved in the discussions prior to this decision. We are also asking that a meeting be organized on the specific subject of transport during the games with all the stakeholders, the State, Île-de-France Mobilités, local authorities, the Games Organizing Committee and the interministerial delegation to the Games. Olympic and Paralympic Games.
It is not acceptable that local authorities, including Paris which is the second largest contributor to IDFM (after the Region), are not consulted. We will discuss it at the next IDFM Board of Directors, this Thursday, but that is not where it will be played out.
Valérie Pécresse does not play the collective game by adding complexity to complexity. This decision reflects his governance at the head of IDFM: solitary, authoritarian and unfair.