The Paris region's public transport authority (IDFM), has set itself the challenge of transporting spectators and residents of the Paris region just as efficiently during the Paralympic Games as during the Olympic Games. Admittedly, there will be fewer spectators to transport than during the fortnight of the Olympic Games – 300,000 per day instead of 500,000 – and fewer sites to serve (17 compared with 25) over 12 days (including two weekends), but the Paris region inhabitants will have returned from their vacations and, on September 2, school transport will have to be up and running.
During the school year, the network carries five million people a day, compared with a maximum of 3.5 million (excluding Olympic spectators) during the summer. Fifty thousand people are expected to attend the opening ceremony on the Place de la Concorde and down the Champs-Elysées.
Paris region and IDFM president Valérie Pécresse has called for "a full mobilization of RATP and SNCF" to manage the combined back-to-school and Paralympic Games passenger numbers without traffic jams. And she is confident about the work of her teams, as well as that of the transport companies (RATP, SNCF, Keolis).
As a sign of her confidence, at a press conference at the regional council on Monday, August 26, she skipped the Paralympic Games to kick off a new project dubbed "Un métro pour tous" ("A subway for everyone").
"We need to give ourselves a new objective, as we did with the Grand Paris Express, by making the Paris subway accessible to all," she said. "It's a winning ticket, because as life expectancy increases, everyone will be concerned by the issue of accessible transport." She pointed out that, since she became the region's president in 2016, there are five times as many accessible stations and that, by 2031, in addition to the RER and the line 14, the new lines 15, 16, 17 and 18 of the Grand Paris Express will be accessible to people with disabilities.
Limited accessible public transport within Paris city limits
Limited accessible public transport within Paris city limits
Limited accessible public transport within Paris city limits
Limited accessible public transport within Paris city limits
Source: Ile-de-France Mobilités
Data as of May 23, 2024
Le Monde infographic
To achieve the same result with the 13 older lines, "the cost is estimated at between €15 billion and €20 billion," Pécresse said. "We have made detailed estimates for line 6, which is partly overground and therefore easier to adapt, and the budget is estimated at €600-800 million. It will be much more for the fully underground lines."
She said she was reaching out to Paris City Council and the French government to share the financing of the 20-year project, which will require a great deal of consultation with local residents, given the amount of construction work it will entail. "We can start very quickly with line 6," she told us.
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