This is a signature that falls sheer, in the midst of controversy about queues in major stations in the beginning of the summer holidays. On Monday, Guillaume Pepy, the chairman of the management board of SNCF, Frank Lacroix, director general, TER, and Philip Coy, president of the Confederation of tobacconists, have signed a memorandum of agreement for that train tickets can only be sold at tobacconists. If the tobacconists with an app and a printer will be able to issue tickets of TGV, the initiative focuses on first tickets of TER.
The SNCF has ambitious goals for these regional trains: conquer more than 200,000 passengers per day by 2025. To do so, it is necessary for him to make the purchase of tickets simpler and more accessible, while taking its cost. While the teller the classics have been removed from many stations, the public enterprise testing alternatives: ticket sales at the station by multipurpose workers or in vans SNCF travelling, in town halls, tourist offices… The agreement with the tobacconists goes further in its scope. “This is an expansion on a large scale of our distribution network. Each day, 10 million French go to the 24 500 tobacco shop”, emphasises Frank Lacroix.
” SEE ALSO – Sale of train tickets: the network of tobacconists is an “opportunity” for the station
Volunteers, tobacconists will be selected in consultation with local elected officials and approved by the SNCF. They shall be remunerated with a fixed share and a variable share depending on the number of tickets sold. A real plus, while the consumption of cigarettes declined. Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Grand, pays de la Loire, Normandy and South (Paca) will be the first regions tests, and some tobacco shops will offer this service as early as this summer.
