Compulsory payment of employees' public transport costs

Verified 14 February 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

An employer duty to pay part of the public transport costs of its employees. This applies to subscriptions to public transport and to public bicycle rental services used by their employees for their commuting. This support is exempt from social contributions.

A sheet on the optional payment of employees' personal transport costs is available here.

Beneficiaries

The cost of public transport must be borne by all company employees with public transport passes.

The employer must take charge 50% the cost of the vouchers of its employees who use public transport.

Subscription titles supported are:

  • Subscriptions multimodal with unlimited travel
  • Annual, monthly, weekly or tacit (automatic) subscriptions to unlimited trips issued by the SNCF or other public transport companies
  • Monthly, weekly or tacit (automatic) renewal cards and subscriptions to a limited number of journeys issued by RATP, SNCF or other public transport companies
  • Subscriptions to a public bicycle rental service

FYI  

The employee is to be paid for all public transport services for the entire journey from his habitual residence to his place of work. That may therefore include several separate subscriptions, all of which need to be supported.

Part-time employees

Part-time employees benefit from of this care.

Support depends on how long they work:

  • If the duration is greater than 50% the legal duration of weekly or conventional work, the cost of public transport shall apply as for a full-time employee.
  • If the duration is less than 50% of the legal duration of weekly or conventional work, the employer must be proportional to the number of hours worked in relation to half the duration of full-time work.

Example :

In a company where full-time work is 35 hours, an employee works 7 hours a week.

He works 20% full-time working time (7 hours), or 40% hours worked in relation to half (here, 17.5 hours) of full-time work.

The employee must therefore benefit from 40% the amount of public transport costs which he would have received had he been on a full-time basis.

The cost of public transport shall be borne by at least equal to 50% the cost of the subscription vouchers to the employee.

The employer's payment is made on the basis of the rates of 2e class.

The employee may ask for the ticket(s) allowing him to make the journey from his home to his place of work in the shortest possible time.

When the ticket used corresponds to a journey greater than the shortest journey, the fare is picked up on the basis of the subscription which strictly allows to make the shortest trip.

Public transport costs may be borne by more than 50% the cost of the subscription vouchers to the employee.

Possibility of collective agreement

One collective agreement (company, inter-company or branch agreement) may make certain changes to the cost of public transport. It may cover the following:

  • Proof of subscription necessary to benefit from the support: subscription ticket, attestation on honor, etc.
  • The amount of reimbursement of transport costs
  • Reimbursement deadlines. These deadlines must be at the latest: the end of the month following the month for which the securities have been validated

In the absence of a collective agreement, the employer shall decide on the amount of the support public transport costs. This must be at least 50% the cost of the subscription vouchers to the employee.

FYI  

In the event of a change in the reimbursement of public transport costs, the employer must notify employees at least one month before the date set for the change.

Implementation

Coverage of public transport costs is mandatory.

The employer must reimburse the securities purchased by the employees at the latest by the end of the month following the month for which they were validated.

Securities with an annual validity period are supported monthly during the period of use.

Example: For a paid subscription annually by the employee by an amount of €1,200, the employer must reimburse monthly €50. In total over the year, the refund will be €600.

Please note

The employer may refuse to take charge if the employee is already receiving allowances representing expenses for traveling between his residence and his place of work in an amount equal to or greater than the payment of 50% public transport costs.

Formalities

The employee must to provide or present his subscription title covered by the cost of public transport.

To be supported, the title allow identification of the holder and be valid.

For subscription titles to a public bicycle rental service, a sworn certificate of the employee is sufficient to qualify for payment of the subscription fee where the subscription document does not include the beneficiary's surnames and forenames.

The amount of reimbursement of transport costs must be mentioned on the pay slip.

FYI  

For employees temporary workers, a sworn certificate addressed to the temporary company of employment is sufficient to qualify for payment of the cost of subscribing to a public passenger transport service or to a public bicycle rental service.

The cost of public transport shall be borne by exempt from social contributions up to 75% the cost of the subscription vouchers to the employee.

Beyond that, the exemption from social security contributions is applicable to all employees residing in the region in which they work. For others, the separation from their home and workplace must be justified not as personal convenience but as family or employment constraints.

Please note

For the employee who benefits from it, the public transport costs are exempt from income tax.

The cost of public transport shall be borne by cumulable with the sustainable mobility package.

In this case, the fixed-term mobility package shall be exempt from social contributions until €800 per year per employee. This amount is applied to all the refunds granted to the employee in the framework of the sustainable mobility package and his/her transport subscription. Fuel costs shall be exempt from social security contributions until €200.

Example :

An employee benefits from the payment of his public transport subscription for €610 and the sustainable mobility package up to €330.

Sound management public transport subscription (€610) is fully exempt from social contributions.

The sustainable mobility package shall be exempt from social security contributions up to €190 (because €800 - €610 = €190).

The employer will have to pay social security contributions on the €140 the non-exempt long-term mobility package (€330 - €190 = €140).

This applies, for example, to employees who have to take a personal vehicle every day to reach a stop served by public transport, which they then use to get to their place of work.

FYI  

If support for public transport subscriptions exceeds €800 per year per employee:

  • The payment of public transport passes is totally exempt from social contributions.
  • The long-term mobility package shall not be exempt from social contributions.

In the absence of any provision for the payment of public transport costs, the employer is liable to penalty. It's a fine of €750 (natural person) or €3,750 (legal person).

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