La régionalisation ferroviaire en France : une première évaluation par la méthode des comptes de surplus

The French regions have since 1997 for some of them, and since 2002 for the others, to a sponsor of public service for regional travelers, faced with a monopoly of the SNCF. Economic theory and the first assessments show that the monopo­ly will receive an informational means. One wonders whether the regions are not provided a learning process. To test this hypothesis with a capacity of expertise growing regions, this paper applies to the « TER system » method of surplus accounts and focuses on developments border prices. The detailed examination of the seven regions, which now have more than ten years experience of agree­ments with the SNCF, shows that they were able to control the evolution of border prices. But they could not avoid the shock, predictable, of higher tolls. In total, travelers become, tendentiously, the main winners of the « TER system ».