2024-08-21 17:58:34
Contrary to the concerns expressed by user groups, the French Association of Regions is ruling out making mandatory reservations universal.
The debate over the “possible generalization” of mandatory reservations on regional trains (TER) is “without foundation”, the French Association of Regions assured in a press release on Wednesday.
Earlier this summer, several European train users associations denounced the possibility of mandatory reservations for regional express tickets across France.
A spokesman for the association of France’s 15 regions responsible for organizing and financing the trains insisted that the hypothesis “in no way reflects the work being done in regional express transport” and denounced it as “unsubstantiated controversy” and “without foundation.”
Targeted experiments involve only 1% of TER’s offer
The association stressed that if “targeted reservation experiments were carried out on a limited number of trains and lines in two regions (Normandy and Grand Est), these “only concerned 1% of France’s ‘Regional Express transport services’.”
The European train user association collective #enTrain Network is particularly concerned about the “airplaneization of TER”, a process that risks “(discouraging) people from taking trains” and expressed its “strong opposition”. Until now, TER tickets usually did not require reservations and allowed you to take any train during the day.
Since July, mandatory reservations for TER have been tested on two lines in the Grand Est region: Paris-Troyes-Mulhouse and Paris-Chalons-Strasbourg. In Normandy, after a first trial phase, the measure has been implemented on several lines to Paris since July 2022.
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#plans #generalize #mandatory #reservations #TER
