The SNCF Advantage card allowing access to maximum rates guaranteed against an annual subscription will soon be less generous, the public company announced on Sunday, justifying the measure by the increase in its costs. In force for two years and held by 4.5 million people, the Avantage card allows for 49 euros per year to benefit from reduced rates of 30% and capped, provided for 28-59 year olds to carry out part of their weekend trip.
These ceilings were 39 euros for journeys of less than 1.5 hours (about 25% of journeys), 59 euros for journeys between 1.5 hours and 3 hours (50%) and 79 euros for longer journeys (25% ). After August 29, they will be increased by 10 euros, thus increasing respectively to 49, 69 and 89 euros maximum. The purchase price of the card remains unchanged, SNCF said in a statement sent to Agence France-Presse, confirming information previously communicated to the newspaper Le Parisien-Aujourd’hui in France.
The device emerged unscathed from the latest SNCF price increase that came into effect on January 10, which saw main line tickets increase by 5%. The railway company had presented this device as a “tariff shield” against the backdrop of a sharp increase in its costs (13% for the TGV in 2023) induced by inflation and the jump in electricity prices.
As for the increase in the ceilings of the Avantage card, it “fits well into the limitation of the price increase to 5% on average in 2023, which is therefore not called into question”, insisted the SNCF on Sunday. It also argued that “it does not change anything for all [its] customers who do not have this card, or even for most of the beneficiaries of the Avantage card because they in the majority of cases pay less than the ceiling price “.
This announcement comes less than ten days after the Minister Delegate for Transport, Clément Beaune, announced that the SNCF was going to offer for this summer tickets at 19 euros for journeys in Intercités, i.e. its main lines excluding TGV, a device financed by the State which subsidizes the Intercités unlike the TGVs. This “popular offer” comes at a time when “we have a lot of debate on train prices”, noted the minister.
