In Montpellier, the hope of a “metropolitan RER” to reduce car dependence

Favoriser l’intermodalité, donc l’efficacité des transports alternatifs, l’objectif du SERM. Midi Libre – MICHAEL ESDOURRUBAILH

Region and Metropolis are organizing, this Thursday, March 23, the "Urban Mobility and Territories" to support the metropolitan regional express service project with the State. An Ifop survey, that "Midi Libre" revealed today, seems to demonstrate its necessity.

There are numbers that speak volumes. According to a survey carried out by Ifop*, nearly 70% of people questioned use a private car every day for their daily journeys in the urban area of ​​Montpellier, a territory of 900 people. 000 inhabitants which includes Eastern Hérault and a large part of Western Gard. These last on average 46 minutes, as traffic remains congested on the roads leading to the city center. The latest Tomtom study estimated the number of hours lost annually per motorist at 73. However, due to the increase in population, there should be 170,000 additional daily trips in this Montpellier attraction area by 2030. That is an increase in road traffic of 20% in the absence of significant developments in mobility solutions.

President Macron's promise

It is Frédéric Dabi, general director Opinion of Ifop, who will set this framework, this Thursday in Montpellier on the occasion of the first meetings "Urban mobility and territories" organized by the Occitanie Region and the Montpellier Metropolis to support their joint application for a metropolitan regional express service (SERM). At the end of 2022, President Macron promised to pour a lot of money into metropolises that would develop a public transport offer, based on the RER model in Île-de-France, with the aim of limiting congestion on the main roads. principal, therefore reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving the quality of life in urban and peri-urban areas.

"Such a project seems to make sense in the urban area of ​​Montpellier. There is very clearly massive support for the project, at 85%, in all age or socio-professional categories, with no difference between the Nîmes and Montpellier towns, begins Frédéric Dabi in the preamble.

"A tipping point"

According to the Opinion director of Ifop, this survey above all reveals the fact "that many have internalized the fact that we are reaching a point of shift in terms of mobility. This is an incredible turning point with 72% of people considering that in 2030, that is to say tomorrow, there will be fewer cars and more room for other forms of mobility. in the city. 63% even think that there will be more people traveling by bike than by car. And 58% say that combustion engine vehicles will be banned in the city. This observation of an urban center with fewer cars does not, however, make any difference the need or desire of respondents to move. "On the contrary, 69 % of them think that there will be more mobility", adds Frédéric Dabi.

Another main lesson from this opinion survey, "one in two inhabitants of the urban area of ​​Montpellier (49 %, Editor's note) says he is ready to give up using his personal vehicle for his daily journeys, despite the feeling of freedom and autonomy it provides ".

But there are obviously conditions. And the first is not the cost of public transport, even in this Metropolis which has made buses and trams free, "but the travel time at 46%. Efficiency and regularity remain the main criterion". Next, after cost at 40%, are accessibility (27%), security (27%) and flexibility (24%). The fight against global warming, however, remains incidental (13%) even if the people questioned, in another question, admit at 58% that the development of rail, cycle and public transport services is a priority. to decarbonize mobility, more than the increase in aid for the purchase of electric vehicles (37%).

Remote dependency

The bicycle, on the other hand, does not yet have a very high rating (18% of respondents use it today), mainly for the feeling of not not being safe (at 37%), for the risk of theft, for longer travel times or unsuitable structures.

All these responses have fueled the reflection of the communities organizing mobility in the urban area of ​​Montpellier to build this SERM project officially launched this Thursday, May 23. It should give pride of place to public transport, starting with a strengthening of the rail offer on the coast (read below), to encourage users to give up their cars. Frédéric Dabi recalls this other Ifop survey which revealed that "70% of French people say they are dependent on their vehicle in their daily life. In Toulouse where we carried out a similar survey, as in Montpellier today, we see that many want to put this dependency at bay". It’s up to elected officials to allow it.

More trains… And buses ?

It was at the end of a morning of round tables on urban mobility that Carole Delga, Kléber Mesquida and Michaël Delafosse, à the head of the Occitanie Region, the Department of H’Hérault and the Metropolis of Montpellier, with the president of Nîmes Métropole Franck Proust, will detail this Thursday, May 23, the declaration of candidacy for the metropolitan regional express service ( SERM) Montpellier. This file should be based on two strong points: a strengthening of the rail offer on the Sète-Nîmes axis, with an amplitude and a fr& Higher train frequency; the development of long-distance coaches high level of service in the hinterland with dedicated lanes to facilitate their circulation towards a connection to Montpellier buses and trams. Other measures should be announced such as common ticketing, to encourage intermodality, or the creation of cycle paths. The challenge is to present é the state has a solid case, as the promise of the head of state has sparked strong enthusiasm in the territories. Today there are around thirty SERM projects, while the first envelope of €767 million promised, to help à launch the files, will only finance them… thirteen. The “laureates” of this race &agrav; the shallot will be known in December.

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