The Ministry of Transport certifies the Montpellier regional express service project… Really good news ?

Strengthening the rail offer, the primary goal of the Montpellier SERM. Midi Libre – MICHAEL ESDOURRUBAILH

The government gives the green light to the Montpellier Metropolis and the Occitanie Region to continue the project to strengthen the public transport offer in the Montpellier urban area. But what will happen the day after July 7?

Normally, this would have been great news. A little more than a month after having officially approved Montpellier's candidacy to develop a Metropolitan Regional Express Service (SERM), Métropole and Région learned this Thursday, June 27 that the file had just passed the first stage at the Ministry of Transport.

15 winners, including Montpellier and Toulouse

"Fifteen first SERM projects have just been labeled […] As announced during the meeting to present the timetable and the method for issuing SERM status, this  ;nbsp;labeling marks the first step in this procedure. It is based on a minute file established by the project leaders, which presents the general ambition, the local actors mobilized, the scope concerned and the major strategic orientations". In other words, Montpellier, which is one of the 15 winners like Toulouse in the region, is invited to continue the work on developing the SERM with a view to obtaining the status by decree. "This decision will be taken on the basis of an in-depth file, which must specify the objectives, the roadmap to achieve them, the financing plan as well as the governance of the project& ;quot;, specifies the ministry.

Strengthening the rail service, express coach network

The Montpellier SERM, supported by the Metropolis, the Region, in partnership with all the inter-municipalities of the Montpellier urban area, from Sète to Nîmes via Lodève, plans to develop the public transport service, both by strengthening the rail service (six trains per hour at peak times by 2034, development of new stations); the creation of an express coach network, with dedicated lanes to facilitate their movement from the hinterland; a single ticket office to promote intermodality. A project costing several hundred million euros.

A very large envelope

That is the problem. The 15 SERMs, to which other files still under study could be added, will require a substantial envelope, which the State has so far promised to provide to the tune of more than 8 billion euros. This could have been good news, but the future government, whatever the result of the ballot boxes on July 7, will it not prefer to use this money for other projects?? SERM should not be redirected to a dead end.