Sète urban bus: the price of a single ticket will change from Monday

À partir de lundi 27 mai, le prix des tickets de bus à l’unité va augmenter. Midi Libre – TIZIANA ANNESI

À partir de ce lundi 27 mai, le prix du ticket à l’unité vendu dans les bus de l’Agglo passe de 1,30 € à 1,60 €.

This is a small revolution in the Keolis bus pricing scale, which has gone relatively unnoticed. From this Monday, May 27, the single ticket goes from 1.30 euros to 1.30 euros. to 1.60 € when purchased in cash from the driver. This development goes hand in hand with the introduction of new means of payment inside the bus. It will now be possible to pay for your ticket via your bank card, your smartphone or your connected watch. A change which "follows the evolution of ways of living", according to the Agglo, but which also causes certain concerns among the drivers.

"We're dreading next Monday"

"There has been almost no communication on this even though a large part of our customers pay in cash", alarms Hervé Pages, bus driver at Keolis, Force Ouvrière delegate and secretary general of the CSE. "We are on the front line facing the reaction of users, we fear next Monday." On the side of the Agglo, we half-heartedly admit that "communication was perhaps not aggressive enough on the subject" even if we explain that it is less "the regular who has a subscription or a notebook than the occasional tourist" who is targeted by this increase.

"Stream the network"

At Keolis, on the other hand, we reject the term increase, arguing that the price of the unit ticket remains at  1.30 € if it is paid electronically. "Our attendance increased by 8% in 2023, we needed to move to dematerialized purchasing to limit the slowdowns linked to the driver giving change", explains Jean-François Buisson, director of Keolis Bassin de Thau, for whom this measure serves above all to "fluidify the network". "There n’there are no other solutions, we invite our users to prepare their journeys or they will pay more."

The limits of electronic payment

"We fear this bank card payment system in particular because it is restricted.& quot; Hervé Pagès points out certain limitations of this method of dematerialized payment. "Firstly, it will not be possible for customers to obtain a receipt, which poses some problems for those wishing to make expense reports." Then, the driver highlights the complexity of the task. of the correspondence system. "As there is no receipt, users will have to swipe their bank card again on the reader & every bus change. Certainly, they will not be charged a second time but this still deserves to be explained. And it’s à We, the drivers, will be responsible for this task."

In the meantime, Hervé Pages and the other drivers will have no other choice than to educate users who still wish to pay in cash. As for those who will come with the old supplement of  1.30  €, "on will continue to take them to avoid conflicts", concludes the driver.

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