The station should be allowed to increase rates
It is a small revolution for the station and its customers: under a decree published this summer in a discreet and identified by Challenges.fr, the railway company could now set its prices much more freely. Gone are the peak and normal periods, the timing was officially recorded in advance and who presided over the setting of tariffs.
"The decree allows to adjust the price cap to the station for the gradual opening to competition of the railway market," says the text. Clearly, to boost the attractiveness and profitability of the public entity within the opening to competition of the European network, SNCF should be able to offer its customers a range of rates much larger, developed based on supply and demand.
Rate increases on the crowded trains
The gain to consumers is mixed.On some busy routes, these new capabilities would enable the public body to go beyond the current full price of the second class in rush hour cheap payday advance. Holidaymakers taking TGV lines busy for example will be expected to pay more. However, for trains shunned by customers, the SNCF would be allowed to go below rates currently charged to attract new passengers.
Such liberalization was requested by the SNCF to the government at the end of last year, in return for the introduction of a tax to finance inter-deficient lines. Neither station nor the government have so far expressed on the subject.Signatory to the decree, the Minister of Transport, Thierry Mariani, was at the time held that freedom of the SNCF tariff should remain regulated, "in that competition does not really exist."
According to Challenges, consumer groups such as FNAUT will be formally consulted before the application of the decree, "probably in the fall."