While January saw a slight decrease in prices in France, down 0.1 percent, inflation for the whole of 2017 was 1.4 percent.
Largely on this basis, a number of prices increased on February 1, including the cost of petrol and diesel at the pump, electricity (up 0.8 percent) and TER train tickets.
TER fares will increase 3.5 percent, which will affect “occasional travellers” who make up 59 percent of traffic and 86 percent of revenue according to by Philippe Tabarot, Vice-President of SNCF Regional Transport.
Locally, motorway toll prices have been increased by 1.34 percent for all types of vehicles, but the Escota network is below the national average for franchised highways, which comes in at 1.65 percent.
While some routes remain the same rates – Nice-Les Adrets at €4.4 – others will see a slight increase, including Nice-Aix (€17.50 to €17.60) and Menton-Cagnes (€4.60 to €4.70).
“This increase is due to the application of the annual inflation rate and to match the increase in public royalties that we pay,” a spokesperson of Vinci Autoroutes, the major concession operator in Europe who manages the Escota network, told local French-language daily Nice Matin.