That does not mean it didn’t reduce them.

Yes that's explicitly what they meant. Most new passengers were people who were Walking or cycling before, but not a Lot of people who were driving before

Then you say the tram in Montpellier isn’t good, like what on earth does that have to do with anything?

That you should Invest the funds used for free Public Transport in improving the Network and it's quality.

Don't get me wrong, you should still offer cheap/free Tickets to People who need them, but nothing wrong to collect additional funds to finance the system