The Canton of Geneva had budgeted 32 million francs to take charge of the subscriptions of young people and elders. But the request is so halfway up that this amount will not be enough, reveals RTS on Monday. The total bill could almost double by the end of the year. The rise in network attendance remains modest.
Free public transport in Geneva for young people under the age of 25 and at a reduced price for AVS/AI beneficiaries will cost more than expected.
Last year, the Grand Council of Geneva voted an envelope of 32 million francs devolved to this measure, which came into force on January 1. However, this amount will not be enough to absorb the request, learned the RTS survey pole.
Ten to fifteen million
According to concordant sources, the additional cost is halfway up in a range between 10 and 15 million francs. In early April, the State of Geneva announced that in the space of a quarter nearly 73,000 subscriptions had been granted, more than half of which to new customers.
What about today? Neither Geneva public transport (TPG), nor their supervisory authority – the Department of Health and Mobility (DSM) – wanted to respond to the repeated RTS requests on this point.
Balance sheet in the fall
“The management of united subscriptions by the State of Geneva is not limited to TPG, it concerns the entire unitesso pricing community which also includes SBB and Geneva seagulls,” recalls the spokesperson François Mutter.
“Under these conditions, coordination work is carried out. The data will be consolidated during the summer, in connection with the other operators concerned, and will be communicated as early as the Council of State with a view to publication of the balance sheet for the first half of 2025.”
Simple au double
However, the request for subscriptions has not finished climbing. “A significant increase is expected in August, during the renewal of subscriptions on the occasion of the start of the school year,” warned the cantonal authorities last spring.
So that the free TPG could cost close to what was voted by Parliament. According to information from the RTS, the Geneva Council of State now expects a total invoice of more than 60 million francs for 2025. Discussions should take place from the start of the school year to find a way to absorb this amount.
“The State will not compensate entirely”
Contacted for the first time, the Department of Health and Mobility (DSM) wishes to deny the articulated figures “as well as the conclusions which are drawn from it”. He repeats that an “complete and contextualized” intermediate assessment will be communicated at the end of the summer.
Relaunched, the DSM specifies: “As announced during the measurement of the measure, the amount of 32 million francs fixed budget does not integrate the effect of boon induced by the measure, which must be evaluated during the year, and which the State will not compensate entirely.”
Moderate increase in crowds
This boon’s effect – an increase in demand causes public aid without modifying behavior – tends to materialize in the attendance of the TPG network. Indeed, according to information obtained by RTS, the subscriptions contracted is only accompanied by a moderate increase in crowds in buses and trams. Halfway through, it barely reached 3%.
This means that all subscribers only take public transport than before, which was however one of the objectives of the device alongside purchasing power. But beware: several experts in the sector warn against hasty judgments. To measure the real impact of free network attendance, it will still be necessary to wait for long months, even years.
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Raphaël Leroy, RTS investigation center
