Lyon transport: a 6.4 billion euro investment plan that worries the CRC

Sytral Mobilités, the company that organizes public transport in Lyon, is planning €6.4 billion of investments by 2033. This colossal effort is deemed risky by the regional audit office, which is warning of a possible spiraling debt and calling for financial forecasting scenarios.

The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regional Audit Office unveiled an observation report on Wednesday, June 4, concerning Sytral Mobilités , the public transport authority in the Lyon region. While the public institution's performance in recent years has been generally positive, particularly in terms of service and ridership, the future could look bleak as the massive planned investments worsen its financial situation.

Also read : New T8 tram and BHNS extension: Sytral launches consultations

In the next 10 years, Sytral plans to invest 6.4 billion euros, including the creation of several tramway lines, starting with the T8 line, which should be completed by 2030. A substantial investment plan, 2.5 times greater than during the period studied by the CRC (2015-2024) which will " require a massive loan raising, in the order of 340 million per year between 2024 and 2033 " explains Barbara Falk, president of the CRC Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.

With 495 million passengers in 2023, the TCL network is currently doing quite well and has almost returned to its pre-health crisis level. This recovery, which began in 2019 with a more social pricing policy (discounts for young people, solidarity fares), has helped bring users back to public transport. But this choice came at a cost: ticketing revenue remains below that of 2019 (€243 million compared to €256 million). While the user satisfaction rate, measured using two surveys, one produced by Sytral and the other by the CRC, remains decent (between 6.4 and 7.3/10), the chamber still notes a " certain deterioration in the operating conditions of the TCL network in 2022 and 2023. "

" The "lost kilometers" (or planned journeys not made) thus represented between 2 and 3% of the contractual offer, which is not negligible in terms of disruption for the user " estimates the CRC, which states that this figure was around 1% before 2020. While the chamber says it is satisfied with the new financial penalties included in the public service delegation which began in 2025, " more restrictive ", it notes that an effort could be made to combat fraud in a transport network which grew by 8% between 2015 and 2023.

An area that could represent " an increased financial challenge in light of the outlook for Sytral Mobilités' financial situation ." While in 2017 fines brought in €4.3 million for Sytral, this figure fell to €2.4 million in 2023, while on average one in ten passengers travel illegally on Lyon's public transport system today. A net loss of almost €2 million, which is compounded by a low fine recovery rate (36%). A " fraud prevention plan " is currently being studied by Sytral and should be " deployed from autumn 2025, " according to the company.

But even by intensifying this fight against fraud, the amounts recovered will be insignificant compared to the amounts invested in the coming years. Also, the chamber points to the " limited room for maneuver " to allow Sytral to increase its sources of financing and demands that the company organizing public transport in Lyon " present financial forecasting scenarios taking into account the significant financial risks to which the establishment is exposed ."

" The assumptions underlying its financial outlook presented during the 2024 budget guidelines debate (DOB) also appear fragile when they are not optimistic. In 2025, it did not even wish to present a financial outlook in the DOB, citing the uncertainties weighing on its resources, " adds the CRC in the summary of its report .

For his part, and in response to this report , Bruno Bernard, president of Sytral and the Lyon Metropolis, defends his massive investment plan, which he considers " necessary to reduce the territorial divide and succeed in the energy transition ." The Green elected official is calling for a " significant and lasting increase in resources to ensure the financial sustainability " of his mobility policy. " To continue to develop and operate our public transport networks, we need more significant financial support from the State, " the president of Sytral Mobilités had also announced at the board meeting of June 3, 2025.

To illustrate these points, he details various proposals borrowed from the Group of Transport Authorities (GART) such as the better distribution of taxes from the road in favor of mobility, the possibility of lowering VAT to 5.5% on daily transport, allocating part of the revenue from environmental taxation to mobility or even changing the mobility payment, a tax collected from public and private employers. This mobility payment already represents nearly 50% of Sytral's revenue (480 million euros). While it was increased last March in ten communities of communes in the Rhône department , in the Lyon Metropolis, the maximum rate authorized by law is currently applied (2%). Before a lifting of the cap on this rate as Paris recently obtained?

These are all avenues that, according to Sytral, could allow for a more serene outlook on the future, despite the CRC's warnings. But these are currently hypothetical avenues over which France's mobility organizing authorities, such as Sytral, ultimately have no control.