La Défense-Grande Arche station, in Puteaux (Hauts-de-Seine), February 5, 2020. -

ClÈment Follain / 20 Minutes

  • The Covid-19 has changed our lives, and our modes of transport.

    The new municipalities elected in June also wish to rethink traffic in city centers, which will not be without consequences for future projects of urban networks.

  • In Ile-de-France, where the number of travelers has dropped by half, RATP wants to focus on “a customer experience” but also diversify.

  • Real estate and flying taxis are particularly in the pipes.

Confinements, drop in attendance, fears of a miasma nest, bicycle boom, increase in teleworking… Ile-de-France transport has been put to the test in one year.

Before the health crisis linked to the coronavirus epidemic, the RATP had 12 million travelers per day.

A figure that fell to 2 million during the first confinement to "reach 5 to 6 million today", explained during her 2021 wishes, Catherine Guillouard, president of the RATP.

It is half less than in the "world before".

As a result, the financial losses are numerous.

In April, RATP published a net loss of 88 million euros in the first half.

Over the full year, the impact would be estimated at 230 million euros.

"My obsession for the year has been not to let myself be swallowed up by this crisis and to stay the course on the challenges we have", says Catherine Guillouard.

The SNCF, which manages certain RER lines, suffered the same fate.

In all, Ile-de-France Mobilités estimates its loss of revenue to come in 2021 at one billion due to the coronavirus, which is in addition to the 2.24 billion in 2020, indicated in December, the president of the regional authority of transport, Valérie Pécresse.

Asked by the president of the region, the State has decided to put its hand in its pocket and to support transport in the Ile-de-France region to the tune of 2.5 billion euros, to compensate for the losses suffered.

But how does transport adapt to the health crisis and face the future in such a context?

20 Minutes

takes stock.

"Putting the customer at the heart of the experience"

“The crisis has been revealing […] for the past two years, we have wanted to put the customer at the heart of the experience and today it is a priority site,” says Catherine Guillouard.

And for good reason, they must be brought in.

30% of users say they want to permanently renounce public transport once the health crisis has passed, according to the 2020 “Mobility Observatory” study carried out by the FIFG on behalf of the Public and Rail Transport Union.

In the background, the RATP promises cleaner transport, innovations, new mobility and the continuation of the work started.

"It's Christmas in Saint-Ouen with eleven days in advance", rejoiced mid-December Valérie Pécresse, during the inauguration of the extension to the north of line 14 welcomed with great pomp.

More than a month later, Porte de Clichy station opened.

“It changes people's lives,” admits Catherine Guillouard.

Line 14, which is now 27 kilometers long, should see its ridership drop from 550,000 travelers per day - before the coronavirus pandemic - to one million.

And work continues for new extensions.

To the north, to Saint-Denis Pleyel (Seine-Saint-Denis) in 2023 and to the south, to Orly airport (Essonne) in 2024. But worksites have also been delayed by the health crisis.

The titanic construction of the Grand Paris Express is “three to eight months late” according to the Société du Grand Paris (SGP).

The year 2021 should in particular make it possible to make up for this delay when the digging of tens of kilometers of tunnel is planned.

In addition, the automation of the lines must also continue in particular on the 4 and the 12. Weak point, the accesses for the handicapped people are still lagging while the capital hosts in 2024 the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Real estate, competition and flying taxis

But the RATP does not want to focus solely on everyday transport.

If development through innovation is in the pipeline, the transport authority also wants to bet on real estate.

“We don't know, but RATP is a very important player in real estate, we have 250 hectares of real estate in Paris.

We have construction programs, in particular for social housing or services, ”explains Catherine Guillouard.

And to specify: “Beyond our role of management of mobility and

mass transit

, there is a series of know-how and it is time to organize them to create a broader future.

And we have to do it, because we are going to compete.

RATP's opening up to competition must indeed begin with its bus network, from January 1, 2025.

Our dossier Rethinking transport

Finally, on the innovation side, the future seems very close.

The prospect of a taxi flying in the sky over the Paris region by 2030 is taking shape: around thirty players have been selected to participate in an urban air mobility sector with initial tests scheduled for this summer.

"It will never replace an RER, it is complementary", insisted last October Catherine Guillouard, "The moment when you will take a ticket by Internet to get in there, it is rather around 2030. But it is tomorrow" , she added at the aerodrome of Pontoise-Cormeilles-en-Vexin (Val-d'Oise) which will host these famous tests.

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  • Coronavirus

  • Public transport

  • Covid 19

  • Confinement

  • RATP

  • Society

  • Paris