Some 650,000 daily passengers, 131 million a year and an overloaded line: the usual traffic conditions on line 13 of the metro were cause for concern, Monday, May 11, at a time of progressive deconfinement and the necessary respect for gestures barriers in public transport. And yet, this morning, there is no crowd at the entrances to Mairie de Saint-Ouen (Seine-Saint-Denis), a station on the outskirts of Paris usually very busy during rush hour.

"I have been there for 7 hours. There is no particular crowd, it is very moderate attendance for a rush hour," explains Radija, 50, a volunteer reservist who distributes masks to users. "We expected to see a few more people going to work, but apparently they are fewer than expected: in an hour and a half, we must have been between thirty and fifty people who passed."

8:15 a.m. There is no crowd at the entrance to the town hall station of Saint-Ouen (line 13) for a busy hour usually # deconfinementjour1 pic.twitter.com/xJ00ku3Nae

- Jean-Luc Mounier (@mounierjl) May 11, 2020

For this particular start of the week, the forecourt of the Audonian town hall, largely empty, has the appearance of a city still asleep or of a quiet Sunday. We meet a few passersby, who mostly wear a surgical mask or fabric. Some rush into the station, others wait for a bus, while the usually busy roadway is the scene of a timid resumption of road traffic.

Émilie, 38, will work today like most of the users interviewed on Monday. "I returned to work three weeks ago, I have no particular apprehension today", explains the one who is responsible for studying in banking. "I take public transport because I have no choice, I am not in a vehicle." She does not fear the promiscuity of line 13 because, she says, "people respect distances much less in supermarkets than in the public transport that I take".

"Social distancing will work according to the lines"

The first images of the day raised fears of an impossible social distance between the travelers who frequent the line. People had to get to their workplace early, they found themselves in numbers in the same trains because of a metro delay caused by "water infiltration at Carrefour Pleyel and Mairie de Saint-Ouen stations", according to the RATP. The public transport company said at 7:19 am that "the incident (was) over".

This is also the observation made by Murielle, 56, who took the line a little later during rush hour. "In transport, there is enough room in fact today", notes this caregiver from Saint-Denis to Saint-Ouen, and who continued his activity during confinement. "It is well distributed in the oars, there is one seat in two empty, even a little more besides. The transport conditions were correct, we will see this evening on the return."

The transport authority did not skimp on the various markings to remind users of the barrier gestures: at the entrance to the metro station, "For our health, let's wear a mask"; before the turnstiles "For our health, keep our distance" and in the oars; on several seats, "For our health, let us leave this seat free".

"For our health, let's wear a mask", "For our health, let's keep our distance" ... Several markings encourage metro users to respect barrier gestures # deconfinementjour1 pic.twitter.com/0UH8QLjVkn

- Jean-Luc Mounier (@mounierjl) May 11, 2020

Will this be enough for travelers to keep a distance of at least one meter from each other? For Gaetan, a 25-year-old firefighter who commutes to work today, as from the start of confinement, "social distancing will work along the lines." And he adds: "But after if people take transport unnecessarily, and since the 13 is overloaded all year round, we will find ourselves crowded into the metro, as always, even with measures of social distancing."

Outside the station, police officers deployed to manage passenger flows - as the main transport companies wanted - toggle between the various metro entrances. This morning, there is no crowd at Mairie de Saint-Ouen.

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