France’s sixth-largest city has seen a significant increase in ridership after making its public transport free for residents, as Montpellier’s Vice-President for Transport & Mobility Julie Frêche explains to Jérémie Anne.
Unlike most cities in France which continue to charge fares for their public transport, the country’s fifth-largest metropolitan area has opted to follow a unique path, making all public transport free for residents of the Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole with effect from December 2022. Along with investment in expanding the tram network and improving active travel facilities, this has driven a significant increase in ridership and a 27% fall in car use over the first three years, according to Julie Frêche, the Métropole’s Vice-President for Transport & Mobility.
The integrated transport policy has been developed within a specific local context, she explains. Its origins, in part, come from the youth climate marches which took place between 2014 and 2020 and the ‘yellow vest’ protests which erupted across the country following a rise in fuel taxes. These two demonstrations raised important questions about purchasing power, living standards and the desire for environmental action. At that time, the Socialist party led by current mayor Michaël Delafosse was in opposition, but the group sought to reflect these wider social and environmental concerns into their manifesto ahead of the 2021 municipal elections.
Frêche laments that social challenges are significant in Montpellier, with 28% of residents living below the poverty line and 28% eligible for the state pension. So the concerns about living standards and the environment had a strong local significance.Other local factors were also taken into account: the area’s vulnerability to the effects of climate change, such as extreme rainfall, heatwaves, and rising sea levels, air pollution and heavy pressure on the local road network.
Notably, Montpellier is the only major French city without a ring road, forcing all traffic to pass through the city centre to get from one motorway to another.The socialist grouping duly won the election, enabling Delafosse and Frêche to begin implementing their ambitious mobility strategies. However, the Vice-President insists that ‘it has never been a question of defending the environment in a punitive way. We aim to practise positive environmentalism.’
Flagship measure
Free public transport is the flagship measure of this policy, which came into force on 20 December 2022. It applies universally to all residents of the 31 municipalities within the Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole.
According to Frêche, the provision of free travel addresses social needs more effectively than means-tested fares, as the middle class is systematically excluded from such schemes, fuelling feelings of injustice. Furthermore, some eligible people might not make use of the provisions, due to a lack of awareness or fear of overly burdensome administrative procedures. ‘In Montpellier, this non-take-up rate reached 40%’, she recalls.
Public transport is now seen as an extension of the public space, and all ticket validation has been removed from the trams and buses. ‘This means you can get on and off as easily as if you were walking along the street’, Frêche emphasises. As an aside, the redundant ticket validators were passed on to the Régie Lignes d’Azur in Nice, which uses the same model and was thus able to build up a stock of spare parts.
Non-residents are expected to pay for their travel, and to that end ticket machines are still provided at the principal stops. Tickets can be purchased via the dedicated app of the local transport operator, Société Publique Locale Transports de l’agglomération de Montpellier (TaM). Frêche explains that this arrangement has been introduced ‘to ensure that non-residents contribute to the funding of transport, as residents effectively contribute through their taxes’.
The introduction of free travel was actually accompanied by an increase in the number of roving ticket inspectors, from 60 to 83. Their duties include checking the free passes of Montpellier residents and the tickets held by non-residents, as well as tackling anti-social behaviour. In addition, a transport police force has been established at a cost of €2m. A team of 42 officers patrols the network to ensure the safety of passengers, staff and rolling stock.
Finding the funding
Funding for the free travel policy has come from a variety of sources. As in all major cities in France, businesses contribute to transport funding via the Versement Mobilité, a specific tax paid by companies with more than 11 employees. Thanks to the attractiveness of the Montpellier area, Frêche reports that VM revenue has risen from €90m to €124m per year.
In addition, a member of staff at Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole is now entirely dedicated to developing Corporate Mobility Plans. This person helps businesses to identify the best travel options for their employees. For example, bus stops may be relocated to better serve a business, or a bike-share or car-share station may be set up nearby, to meet the needs of the company and its staff.
According to Frêche, the total operating cost of the TaM network in 2025 was around €138m. In 2019, the most recent (pre-pandemic) reference year, passenger revenue reached €39m. In 2025, Montpellier recovered around €9m in revenue from non- residents, making the net cost of the free travel policy some €30m, or just ‘5% of the metropolitan area’s budget’. By comparison, she notes that road maintenance within the metropolitan area accounted for €70m, which was ‘funded by everyone through their taxes’.
An expanding network
As well as implementing free public transport, Montpellier has extended one tram route and added another to its network.
Route 1 has been extended by 1·3 km from the former terminus at Odysséum to the new Montpellier-Sud-de-France station on the Contournement Nîmes – Montpellier high speed line. This required an investment of €50m, which was funded by the Métropole, the Occitanie région and the national government. Route 1 is the busiest tram route in France outside Paris, with a daily ridership of 140 000; around 3 800 passengers/day are expected to use the extension.
A bigger project has been the development of tram route 5, which connects Grès de Montpellier in the southwest to Clapiers in the northwest. The 16 km route serves 27 stops, of which seven were already in existence, and provides tram services to a catchment of nearly 100 000 residents. Around two-thirds of the infrastructure is new: 6·6 km from Grès de Montpellier to Gambetta and 4·5 km from Saint-Éloi to Clapiers. Between Gambetta and Saint-Éloi, Route 5 shares tracks with routes 1, 3 and 4, offering multiple interchange options. End-to-end journey time is 45 min, with trams running at a maximum speed of 60 km/h.
Construction of the line involved 150 companies and created 11 000 direct and indirect jobs. The project was overseen for Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole by TaM, with the project management contract being awarded to an Artelia-Systra-Atelier Garcia-Diaz consortium in 2019. The total investment amounted to €440m, of which €315m came from the Métropole; the other €125m was shared between the state, the France Relance plan, the Occitanie région and the city of Montpellier.
Line 5 opened for revenue service on December 20 2025, although only 10 of the 22 trams were available as a result of delivery delays. Service frequencies will gradually increase as new vehicles are delivered, and the planned 7½ min headways are expected to come into effect from September. Frêche says the initial passenger figures have been ‘very encouraging’ despite the limited service, with a daily ridership of 39 000 passengers in January well on the way to achieving the target of 80 000.
Having operated various generations of Citadis trams supplied by Alstom since its first line opened in 2000, Montpellier launched an open tender for new rolling stock to work the expanded network and start replacing its oldest vehicles. Both Alstom and CAF submitted bids, and CAF was awarded the €225m contract in May 2022. This covers the supply of 60 Urbos 100X trams, with options for a further 17.
Being assembled at CAF’s Bagnères-de-Bigorre plant in Hautes-Pyrénées, the seven-section trams are 43·2 m long and 2 650 mm wide, with capacity for 301 passengers. They take power at 750 V DC, and have a maximum speed of 70 km/h. There are seven sets of double-leaf doors to ensure rapid boarding and alighting. The new trams are equipped with a Tetra radio, and front-facing cameras for inspecting the infrastructure, as well as an event recorder. The driver’s cab has been designed to provide an ergonomic working position, with the modular control panel grouping the various controls in compliance with the latest STRMTG regulations.
Of the initial 60 vehicles, 22 are required for Route 5 and 30 will replace the Citadis 401s on Route 1, which are reaching the end of their service life following intensive use. The remaining eight will be used to bolster the fleet in the event of breakdowns or major maintenance. The option is expected to be exercised to increase capacity as ridership on the network continues to grow. Meanwhile, a mid-life refurbishment is being considered for the Citadis trams used on routes 2, 3 and 4.
One distinctive feature of the Montpellier tram network is the use of different liveries to distinguish the vehicles on each route. The Route 5 cars feature a green exterior scheme designed by celebrated Cameroonian artist Barthélémy Toguo.
Meanwhile, the Vice-President reports that a technical upgrading of the infrastructure is getting underway. Noting that comparable cities such as Nantes and Grenoble spend between €800 000 and €900 000 per year on network maintenance, she says the previous administration in Montpellier had reduced its annual spend to just €200 000. The current management team has therefore rolled up its sleeves, implementing strategies for renewing both the track and the operational systems. There have also been suggestions that the construction of a third depot may begin shortly.
Assessing the results
Asked about the impact of free travel in terms of passenger numbers, Frêche emphasises that ‘free transport cannot be achieved without an increase in services’. Even if the tram is free, she insists, ‘it must still meet residents’ expectations’, as measured by the traditional indicators of service quality — frequency, punctuality, cleanliness and safety.
Across the entire TaM network of five tram lines and 40 bus routes, she reports that an additional 1 million vehicle-km is being provided each year. That is ‘14 million kilometres annually in total, representing a 9% increase’ thanks in part to the opening of Route 5 and the extension of Route 1. Another innovation has been the launch of the first of five bus rapid transit services, branded as ‘BusTram’. Frêche says this surge in supply has generated a surge in demand, with ridership up by 39% from an initial modal share of just 16%.
Free transport is also seen as a paradigm shift in how the city itself is perceived, she adds. Several ‘irritants’ have been removed, helping people to experience the city in a different way and making transport ‘more attractive and appealing’. However, free transport is not an end in itself, and has to be seen as part of a ‘systematic programme’ of measures. Noting that not everyone has access to the same level of mobility, Frêche emphasises that it was therefore necessary to “increase the range of options, without adopting a dogmatic stance. We never make people feel guilty about using private cars.’
At the same time, she confirms that free travel has helped bring about changes in travel patterns across the metropolitan area.
During the 2020-26 municipal term, the Métropole has completed 44 km of pedestrian walkways and 138 km of cycle paths. The car-sharing fleet has been tripled in size, while carpooling was made free for drivers. Through traffic has been removed from the city centre by closing various road lanes and the tunnel under the historic Place de la Comédie. A pedestrianisation plan has been implemented, particularly outside schools, where it is now impossible to drive in a private car.
Changes in modal share
To measure the effectiveness of the various measures, Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole has undertaken analyses of modal share across different modes of transport.
Although a transport survey was initially considered, this option was quickly abandoned due to its cost and complexity. Instead, the metropolitan authority partnered with the start-up Mobility-Metrix to use smartphone geolocation data. Anonymised data was collected from telecoms operators as well as from some more unexpected players, such as the restaurant app Marmiton and Spotify. When aggregated, this data highlighted several trends.
Between 2019 and 2025, the modal share of car travel fell by no less than 27%, Frêche reports. Cycling’s share has doubled, from 3% to 6% of all trips, while public transport has more than doubled from 16% to 39% of the overall total. However, the mode that has seen the greatest increase in absolute terms is walking, which is up by no less than 67%. The Vice-President welcomes these developments, which she believes demonstrate that free public transport does not compete with active travel; rather they complement one another.