It is a reality that is now present in the minds of all French people. Inflation is spreading further and affects almost all sectors of the economy. Food, energy, services… Prices are rising everywhere.
Faced with this new reality, consumers are adapting and spending their money differently. And while some hope that the situation will improve in the months to come, several sectors will not be spared in 2023 and prices are likely to be all the more impacted.
Guest of the program “Le Grand Jury” on LCI, the Minister Delegate for Transport Clément Beaune spoke this Sunday about the price increase which should concern train tickets and motorway tolls in 2023.
This increase was expected and will be “moderate”, explains the minister. Every year, around February 1, the price of motorway tolls increases by following a calculation taking into account the work undertaken by the companies as well as the inflation rate, reports TF1.
The latter being particularly high this year, the motorway companies had announced an increase which could go up to 8%. This Sunday, Clément Beaune returned to this figure. “There will be an increase in tolls, but not around 7 to 8%,” he said.
However, he still qualified by saying that “It will certainly be a bigger increase, because inflation is higher”, compared to last year. Indeed, in 2022 toll rates have increased by 2% on average. However, this figure is much lower than that of inflation, which is 5.8% over the current year.
“It is normal that there is part of the inflation which is in the prices, otherwise it is the whole investment model which is flattened”, justified the minister. These investments should in particular be necessary in the context of the ecological transition, recalled Clément Beaune. They will be partly used for the installation of electric terminals on the rest areas but also for the installation of tolls without barriers.
According to TF1 projections, this increase should be within an estimated range of between 4.2% and 6.9% in 2023.
But in the transport sector, it is not just the highways that will be affected by inflation.
The beginning of 2023 should also be marked by an increase in the price of train tickets. However, here too, the minister assures that the government is acting to limit its surge and that tariff increases should be “below inflation”.
“I asked the SNCF to work in the coming days on a tariff shield on the train”, he explained on the set of the “Grand Jury”. His wish is thus that “those who need the train on a daily basis, the most modest, the young people who use OuiGo, are protected”.
