Free public transport in France criticised by judges

Free buses and trams are stopping investment in greener public transport and not doing much to improve air quality, according to state auditor the Cour des comptes, which has called for their abolition.

At least 46 towns and cities in France have free buses.

Dunkirk was the first city with a population of more than 200,000 people to make all of its buses free in 2018, after an experiment lasting a couple of years in which they were free at weekends.

At the time its mayor, Patrice Vergriete, told The Connexion the effect had been “immediate” with buses which had been less than a quarter full carrying double the number of passengers they did before.

The conclusions of the Cour des Comptes were immediately criticised by the mayor of Montpellier, Michaël Delafosse. 

The city introduced free bus and tram travel for residents at the end of 2023 

“We can see on the ground that air quality has improved,” he said in a statement to AFP.

He said that buses carried 27% more passengers since the free ride system was introduced, compared to the 20% claimed in the Cour des comptes report.

The report claims the environmental benefits of free transport in Montpellier were limited because only 33% of new users previously used cars or vans, either as passengers or drivers.

And judges said 39% of new users would have previously walked or used electric scooters.

They added that passengers have complained about the number of people on buses and trams, which mean they are no longer able to travel with electric scooters. 

Some passengers from the outskirts of the town said they now avoid public transport because as soon as a bus or tram approaches the centre, it becomes uncomfortably crowded.

Public funding structure

The funding of urban public transport systems in France is highly codified, usually split between passengers, local businesses and local councils.

Local businesses in urban areas pay a transport tax, called versement mobilité, and in return their employees receive bus passes for, typically, half the price of a full fare in places where public transport is not free. 

In 2019, the last year for which the Cour des comptes could get data, passenger fares covered 41% of the operating costs of urban transport across the country.

Where buses were made free, the transport tax paid by businesses and the contribution from local councils, which comes from local and national taxes, goes up.

“This has created financial tensions, amplified by the economic crisis and the leap in inflation at the start of 2020, which threaten new investment projects because finance is not available,” wrote the judges.

“And investment is needed to make bus fleets greener and to develop urban public transport to reach goals set for ecological transition.”

The judges pointed to Lyon as an example to follow. 

Here, they said, investment in greener public transport, coupled with “tariff flexibility” to allow free or nearly free transport for disabled and low-income passengers, had led to more people taking public transport and leaving their cars at home.

Their conclusion, which does not have to be followed, but which can be used in court cases brought against municipalities, is that public transport should not be free.

“Rather than develop free public transport, it is preferable to put in place measures targeted at the most vulnerable people, selected on the basis of their revenue,” the judges wrote.

They also called for municipalities to publish breakdowns of costs, financing and use of urban transport, and for a crackdown on fraud.