The company is facing post-covid recruitment and absenteeism problems.
The president of Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) Valérie Pécresse summoned the RATP to present “Action planAiming to restore normal bus traffic in the region, when a quarter of the service is not provided, in a letter consulted Friday by AFP. “The situation of the bus network is clearly out of step with your current obligations“, laments Valérie Pécresse in a letter addressed to the CEO of the RATP Catherine Guillouard dated Thursday.
«The information recently communicated by your teams highlights a very significant deterioration in production, with a rate of realization of the transport offer which stands at around 75% since the start of the school year.“, with “high variability in supply from one day to the next“, she regrets. “This situation, which represents for users only three out of four buses, is unacceptable». Elle «cannot last and requires a rapid reaction on your part“To restore 100% of the offer provided for in the contract signed last year between IDFM and the RATP, insists the elected official (LR).
Recruitment difficulties
Saying that she understands the absenteeism problems experienced by the RATP during the health crisis and its difficulties in recruiting drivers, Valérie Pécresse demands “within fifteen days an action plan including specific commitments to restore service». «Travelers are in great distress“, she added by hand, signing the letter.
The RATP recognizes that it is facing major recruitment difficulties, but these “concern all Ile-de-France operators». «Faced with this situation, the company is mobilized and deploys significant resources to recruit and train as many bus drivers as possible in order to ensure a service offer in line with the objectives set by IDFM.“, replied the group. While bus traffic was already disrupted this summer, the Régie had promised an improvement in August “by September 1“. At the end of August, there were still a shortage of 700 bus drivers out of 16,000.
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The public group, whose CEO is due to leave her post at the end of the month, then highlighted the reduction in supply during the summer, the impact of numerous road works, the effects of the heat which lengthened agent break rates andunprecedented difficulties recruiting bus drivers».