EUROPE 1 ACCOMPANES YOU
The strike against the pension reform will disrupt several sectors this weekend. Traffic at the SNCF will be very disturbed Saturday and Sunday, as public transport in Paris and Île-de-France. Europe 1 accompanies you and takes stock of the planned disturbances, as well as existing alternatives.
At the SNCF: many TER and 5 TGV on 6 canceled
Rail traffic will remain "very disturbed" on Saturday and Sunday, with 5 TGV on 6 and many TER canceled. In detail, only one TGV on six average will roll this weekend. SNCF plans for Saturday one train out of six for the East, North, Southeast and the Ouigo, one in five trains for the Atlantic axis and two round trips province-province.
On Sunday, there will be only one train out of ten on the East axis, one out of six on the Atlantic and South-East axes, for the Ouigo and intersector links, and one out of five trains for the North axis. On the TER lines, only one in ten traffic on average Saturday - against three out of ten Friday - and two out of ten on average Sunday will be insured, mainly by bus, with differences depending on the region. In Occitania, there will be virtually no traffic during the weekend.
Train tickets of affected travelers will be refunded 100%, even if they are not exchangeable, according to the site of the SNCF. The "Macron buses" circulate and can act as a replacement on some routes.
Public transport very disturbed in the Paris region
Public transport will also be heavily impacted in the Paris region. The SNCF will circulate 15% of Transilien (RER SNCF and suburban trains) on average, like Friday. Thus, the RER will count Saturday and Sunday three trains per hour between 12 and 18 hours on the branch going to Cergy, and the RER B (northern portion) will offer one train out of three but will stop working after 22 hours.
On the side of the RATP, 9 metro lines will be completely closed all weekend. The traffic will be "normal" on the automatic lines 1 and 14 as well as on Orlyval Saturday and Sunday.
>> To find all the details of the disturbances on the RATP website: click here
The different Parisian bike and scooter rental platforms offer an alternative for Parisians wishing to travel. We were proposing a list for you in this article on the first day of the strike.
On the road: beware of traffic jams in Île-de-France
Another solution is to take your car, or to rent one ... But big traffic jams have saturated the roads of Paris and Île-de-France. In the evening, 600 km of traffic jams were noted, twice the usual average. The situation could be similar this weekend. For traffic forecasts, you can use Waze or Google Maps, or websites such as infotrafic.com, viamichelin.fr, or sytadin.fr.
No cancellations of flights to predict
Good news from the sky. Air traffic was severely disrupted on Thursday and Friday, but that should not be the case this weekend. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) did not ask airlines to reduce their flight program on French territory Saturday, contrary to previous days. "Air France plans to insure the entire flight program Saturday," said a spokesman for the airline.
For your outings: museums impacted in Paris, fear for the Festival of Lights in Lyon
Several cultural places were affected Thursday and Friday by the strike against the pension reform. This weekend, the uncertainty hangs over the maintenance of performances at the Opera Bastille and Opera Garnier in Paris (they were canceled Thursday and Friday). The Louvre Museum will be open on Saturday, but several rooms may remain closed to the public, as in previous days. The Eiffel Tower should also be accessible - it reopened Friday after a day of closure on the first day of the strike.
In Lyon, the Festival of Lights should gather fewer people than usual. Due to the strike, many tourists have canceled their reservations, according to our correspondent on site.