François Durovray likes to start his day with a walk. In the forest of Chamarande (Essonne), for example. “We must not forget that this is the first form of mobility”He likes to remember the new Minister of Transport in the Barnier government. Elected by the Republicans (LR) in Essonne in 2001, it was cars and trains that led him to specialise in this sector and become one of the elected officials who have a special interest in the subject. “In my department we depend a lot on cars and the RER”He recalls, having been annoyed since his first term as a departmental councillor by the traffic jams in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges.
During the last legislative elections, the LR president of the Essonne departmental council stood against the sovereigntist Nicolas Dupont-Aignan in order to defend his values. This close friend of Xavier Bertrand remained in the second round, defeating the president of Debout la France and ally of Marine Le Pen. But it was another transport specialist with a style opposite to his who entered the National Assembly: Bérenger Cernon, a railway worker and CGT worker, who is part of the ranks of the LFI.
In the Ile-de-France region, Valérie Pécresse, when she was Minister of the Budget in 2011 and 2012, encouraged the “BCBG” mayor of Montgeron to get involved in transport management by becoming leader of the opposition when Jean-Paul Huchon was regional president. The virus has never left him. The purchase of new RER trains, the development of express carriages and the single transport ticket that will come into force on January 2 in Ile-de-France are all on the agenda since the region swung to the right. She is particularly interested in the single price that will come into force next year: “There are as many kilometres between Montgeron and Paris as there are between Porte Maillot and Bercy, why do we pay more for our ticket in the first case than in the second?” defends tirelessly.
Very marked by the movement of the “yellow vests”
Like Dominique Bussereau or Jean-Claude Gayssot before him, François Durovray is one of the elected officials mobilised on transport issues with whom operators are used to working. He is found in all the major bodies in the sector: the Gart (Group of authorities organising transport), which brings together elected officials to give their opinion on the government, the SNCF or the road companies, the Afit, the State agency dedicated to the multi-annual financing of transport infrastructure, the Infrastructure Guidance Council, the Transport Commission of the Assembly of the Departments of France or even Codatu (Cooperation for the development and improvement of urban and peri-urban transport).
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