Why don't the metro doors open on their own in times of Covid?

The Paris metro in July 2020. -

• If all the metro doors do not open automatically, for a reason of different technology depending on the train, the operators are redoubling their efforts on the hygiene of the contact points.

• “The metro has never been so disinfected, so cleaned, so clean,” said at the beginning of September at a press conference Valérie Pécresse, president of the Ile-de-France region.

• According to the RATP, "1,800 people are mobilized daily to ensure the cleaning of stations, stations, buses, subway, tram and RER trains".

This is the little battle in the big war.

A fight which precedes the health crisis but which is gaining momentum at the time of barrier gestures and social distancing that has been undermined since returning to transport.

Who is responsible for opening the metro door for all other users?

Who will put their fingers on this handle, a sort of potential miasma nest?

To each his own technique.

If some voluntarily withdraw while waiting for another traveler to take up the problem, even if it means missing the connection, others do not hesitate to start, by opening the door of the train, sometimes with their sleeve. or with your fingertips, then sprinkle abundantly with hydroalcoholic gel.

People in the metro waiting to see who will open the door and touch the handle pic.twitter.com/JUHXRORObN

- beautiful (@ lehana13_) September 14, 2020

Yet in this modern day struggle, not everyone is in the same boat.

On some lines, the doors open automatically.

On others, no.

A situation that could evolve?

We don't talk enough about this floating moment in the metro when no one wants to open the train door so as not to touch the handle

- Axelle (@AxelGagnaire) September 17, 2020

Ok, first return to the metro since the end of confinement.

Quite an experience.

A strange atmosphere, people looking at each other, until the final destination.

The only question being: but who will touch the handle to open the door ?? !!

#paris #COVID ー 19

- deborah pawlik (@deborahpawlik) May 13, 2020

"It's a question of metro generation and technology"

Seven metro lines make it possible not to touch the handle.

On lines 1 and 14, the automation of the doors solves the problem and line 4 in the process of automation opens for example thanks to the action of the driver.

Just like on line 13, 2, 5 or even 9. The other lines, on the other hand, like 6 or 12, are completely devoid of functionality.

“It's a question of metro generation and technology.

All new metro trains have automatic or driver-managed openings.

For others, it's manual ”, we answer at Ile-de-France Mobilités requested by

.

The solution will therefore come over time with the renewal of rolling stock and its automation.

In the meantime, and to deal with the coronavirus epidemic, Ile-de-France transport is cleaned very regularly, has been assured for months to the RATP and the SNCF.

“1,800 people are mobilized daily to ensure the cleaning of stations, stations, buses, subway, tram and RER trains.

They pay particular attention to the contact areas to which travelers are sensitive, i.e. the grab bars, door opening mechanisms, toll lines, dispensing devices, stair handrails and escalators as well as the seats on the platforms, ”says one within the RATP, contacted by

According to Valérie Pécresse, the metro has "never been so clean".

"The metro has never been so disinfected"

"The metro has never been so disinfected, so cleaned," said Valérie Pécresse, president of the Ile-de-France and Ile-de-France Mobilités region at a press conference in early September, while the he transport offer was restarted 100% without the rule of one in two seats.

In May, during the deconfinement, Ile-de-France Mobilités, asked operators to disinfect the trainsets and interior of vehicles several times a day.

"We are very vigilant on this point", assured to

, Grégoire de Lasteyrie, mayor (LR) of Palaiseau (Essonne), special delegate for new mobilities at the regional council and administrator of Ile-de-France Mobilités.

Special attention that continues.

Stations and stations are cleaned twice a day, according to transport operators.

A disinfectant cleaning is also carried out at the end of each service on the entire Île-de-France Mobilités network, whether it is the RER, metro, bus or tram.

Finally, "mobile teams" intervene on board the rolling stock during off-peak hours to disinfect the contact surfaces.

The RATP which proceeded from May 11 to the industrialization of disinfection by nebulization for its bus fleet has indeed extended this process in addition to daily cleaning.

The goal: to sanitize potentially infected surfaces.

And so this famous handle.

“Now all the metro and RER lines of the Île-de-France Mobilités network operated by the RATP (RER A and B) are disinfected using this technique.

Note that in Île-de-France, other operators have also implemented this solution, still using products that are active against Covid-19 ”, indicates the transport authority, which at the same time welcomes its process: "With nebulization, a bus is, for example, disinfected in 2 minutes and 40 seconds and an entire metro train in less than 5 minutes".

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