Fare policy in St-Etienne : social, economic and cultural issues.

The setting-up of the employer transport tax in 1973-1974 has endowed local authorities with important financial resources. This tax is levied in France on the equivalent of 1% of the total gross wages and salaries paid by all industrial employers to the benefit of all local authorities. Recently a new law has been passed in order to extent this action to all provincial metropolitan areas with a population exceeding 300,000. The impact of this measure is discussed.