The French city of Rouen is offering 12,450 free bus tickets, but they’re only available to NGOs and other organizations who support migrants.
The proposal was put forward to the Rouen Metropolitan Area Council on Monday, Feb. 3. The community will now distribute the bus tickets to foreigners who are newly arrived in France in order to aid them in their administrative procedures.
“The Metropolis has committed to a second Territorial Reception and Integration Contract with the State on Sept. 30, 2024,” explains the proposal submitted to the elected representatives for a vote.
The aim of this contract is to “facilitate the integration of new arrivals in our territory regardless of the reason for granting their first residence permit in France (international protection, family reunification, health, etc.). It was co-produced with associations, refugees and new arrivals, and institutions.”
French taxpayers must foot the bill for public transport for foreigners, which has often now been made unsafe by foreigners, especially for women.
“People who have just arrived in France can travel for free on the Astuce network by benefiting from the Contact pass (297 trips over 6 months),” wrote Rouen authorities in a statement.
Often local associations foot the bill for migrants using public transport or the French Office for Immigration and Integration (OFII), but migrants must first register with these organizations. Now, Rouen wants to help pay for one-way tickets to reach these organizations to help them register.
The city notes that “a large part of these structures work exclusively with volunteers and live off donations.”
The city did the math and found that 12,450 tickets should cover the needs of these migrants.
It is therefore proposed to give 12,450 “one-trip” tickets to associations in 2025, “to be distributed among the structures”. It is then up to them to distribute the tickets to newcomers “as part of justified trips to open their rights (administrative procedure or access to a public service).”
In addition, the Rouen Metropolis also announced it will send money to other pro-migrant programs as well “to improve the integration of new arrivals.” That means taxpayer euros for “World Refugee Day 2025,” a sporting and cultural event supported by ASPTT to celebrate International Refugee Day on June 20.
These are just small costs; however, migrants are costing France in the billions every single year on housing, healthcare, and education, including €500 million alone last year for emergency migrant housing.
Experts estimate that the cost of foreigners to France each year reaches at least €25 billion.
France: 12,450 free city bus tickets, but they’re only available for migrants