Occitanie has extended free public transport to all young people aged 12 to 26, or one million people, a first in Europe, Carole Delga, PS president of the region, announced on Friday. “Student insecurity is too strong in our country. We ensure that transport does not weigh on young people’s wallets. There is a financial interest but also an ecological one,” declared Carole Delga, officially launching the operation at Matabiau station in Toulouse.
This offer, called = 0 and previously reserved for 16-26 year olds, has in fact benefited 12-16 year olds since December 22. Via an application, young users can validate their journey and benefit from free travel on 21 train lines and 370 coach lines. “We really wanted complementarity between trains and buses to allow as much mobility as possible. The goal is also to get younger people used to traveling by public transport,” said the president of the region.
Launched last September for young people aged 16 to 26, the application has been downloaded by 110,000 users. In 2021, Occitanie introduced free school transport for 180,000 young people, then trains for 18-26 year olds. These initiatives have made it possible to record a greater increase in the use of regional trains than elsewhere in France – 20% more in 2023 compared to 2022 depending on the region – and to multiply by 10 in four years the number of young people using public transport.
