2023-12-06 08:08:28
In the world of public transport in the Ile-de-France region, this is a turning point. The RATP, long recognized for the regularity of its metros, is unable to get its service back on track. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, the Parisian authority has struggled to operate the trains ordered by its client, Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM).
The problems, which first affected bus traffic, have spread to the metros. In question, the cessation of recruitment of drivers during periods of confinement. Since then, RATP has been working hard to hire and its CEO, Jean Castex, is working hard to improve“attractiveness” house jobs and salaries. But nothing works.
A week after having denied the concerns of the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, on the preparation of transport for the 2024 Olympic Games (OJ), Valérie Pécresse, president of the Ile-de-France region and of IDFM, deplores, in a press release, “a worrying deterioration in punctuality on certain lines” in October. She “reminds RATP of the need to get back on track”.
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In the metro, five lines are “in great difficulty” : 3, 6, 7, 8 and 13. During peak hours, the regularity of the trains is less than 85% of the ordered supply. “These are rates that did not exist before Covid”, insists the press release. And that we had never known at RATP. “The unavailability of drivers (absenteeism, illness, etc.)” And this, “despite massive recruitment” is the leading cause of canceled trains, according to IDFM.
Crowded trains
The second is the tension in finding maintenance specialists: this explains the 20% of metros lacking on line 8. Waiting times and crowded trains then lead to an increase in passenger discomfort. This causes one in ten trains to be lost on line 7.
Is it the end of the status enjoyed by RATP agents that demobilizes them? Or the breakup of the Régie into a multitude of subsidiaries to respond to calls for tenders as part of the opening to competition? Incivility or more serious incidents on buses? Or the cost of living in the Paris region, which is causing an acceleration in resignations?
IDFM, which increased the Navigo Pass and obtained new funding from the government, will make a move. While his contract with RATP caps salary increases at 1.5% per year, IDFM will pay him an additional 125 million euros in 2023 and 160 million in 2024 to cover the salary increases already granted by Jean Castex.
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