Agglo Hérault-Méditerranée: the bus company Kéolis will be renewed for seven more years

Les bus de la société Kéolis vont continuer à circuler sur le territoire de l’Agglo. PHOTO KEOLIS

The current contract runs until next February. The Agglo has decided to continue with the operator.

Mayor of Caux and vice-president of the Hérault Méditerranée urban community, Jean-Charles Desplan announced this week at the community council that the public service concession for urban passenger transport would once again be awarded to the company Kéolis, the current operator, for a period of seven years.

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A 14% increase in ridership between 2022 and 2023

“We are completing the final negotiations to benefit from an even more efficient network, meeting the demands of the citizens”, specifies the elected official, who will not have had to rack his brains to choose the beneficiary, given that Kéolis, majority-owned by the SNCF and the pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, was the only one to have responded to the call for tenders.

Although the company has experienced some social upheavals in recent months, the activity report for 2023, which was presented at the same community council, shows a 14% increase in attendance compared to 2022, with 675,220 trips made, with only on-demand transport showing a 7.5% drop in attendance. The implementation of a night shuttle between the exit of the Cap d'Agde nightclubs and the main campsites in the town, with three rotations per night in the summer period, was also highlighted, the system having also been renewed last summer.

As part of the implementation of this public service, the contribution in 2023 of the Hérault Méditerranée agglomeration amounts to just over 2.8 million euros. For its part, the company shows a 20% increase in its commercial revenue compared to the previous year, reaching €479,980. In this respect, the report tells us that 81% of this revenue comes from single ticket sales and 19% from subscriptions. “And the figures we have for 2024 show a further increase”, says Jean-Charles Desplan. Whether by choice or by obligation, traveling by bus is clearly becoming more and more a habit for residents of the Hérault-Méditerranée region.

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