Thunderclap in transport: Transdev attacks the Agglo in summary proceedings, Nîmes metropolis suspends its deliberation

Il faudra attendre encore pour connaître le nom du futur délégataire. MIDI LIBRE – DR

The general director of Transdev, Ludovic Martin, confirms the legal action.  Consequently, Nîmes Métropole wishes to postpone the decision.

This was the flagship measure which was to be voted on this Monday evening. "The award of the public service delegation for the operation of public transport in Nîmes métropole" will ultimately not be known on this date. The deliberation was purely and simply removed from the agenda, the Agglo services announced this Monday. "Friday evening, we learned that a pre-contractual summary was to be notified to us in the coming days", explained Bernard Baumelou, chief of staff of Nîmes métropole.

An accelerated procedure

An appeal was in fact filed in summary proceedings by the company Transdev, current delegate of the public service. This is confirmed by the general director of Transdev, Ludovic Martin: "We brought this appeal to the administrative court of Nîmes. This is a pre-contractual summary procedure, an accelerated procedure which will allow a decision to be made within three weeks to a month."

If Transdev does not wish, for the moment, to communicate to the press the basis of its requests, we remember that the company did not wish to apply for the new delegation , the amount of the contract then proposed – 44M€, or 8 million less than during the previous DSP – having been judged too low to carry out the service.

Keolis and RATP Développement, candidates for the new DSP, will therefore have to wait to know their fate, the first having the favor of the Agglo services as mentioned in the withdrawn deliberation. If the decision supports Nîmes métropole, the deliberation will be put to the vote again. "It appears more reasonable to defer this item on the agenda to propose it on March 25", confirmed Bernard Baumelou.