"We will do everything to be there," promised Jean Castex, former Prime Minister and current CEO of RATP, announcing thousands of hires.

The Parisian public transport operator has been put to the test since the summer, victim of a shortage of personnel, difficulties in recruiting, worrying absenteeism and sporadic strikes.

Buses and metros have become rarer, which has exasperated users … and raises questions for the Olympic Games.

The RATP has partially succeeded in rectifying the situation, but will it be able to sufficiently motivate its machinists in the summer of 2024?

Will we also find drivers for the thousand buses supposed to transport the 250,000 athletes, organizers, VIPs and journalists?

The social climate is also a problem, the Olympics being organized six months before the opening to competition of the bus network currently operated as a monopoly by the RATP.

The unions of the Régie are very hostile to it, the regional left (opposition) is agitated... A strike would cause disorder!

The Minister Delegate for Transport, Clément Beaune, says he is ready to extend the RATP monopoly.

Former French Prime Minister Jean Castex, president of the RATP, on February 20, 2023 in Paris © Alain JOCARD / AFP/Archives

Flow management

“We are going to have to transport in the middle of August what we usually transport on a peak day”, explained Valérie Pécresse, the president of the regional transport authority, Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM): 9 to 10 million people, at 25 Olympic sites, mostly concentrated in Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis.

"For the sole transport of accredited members, we are going to deploy the equivalent of the Lyon bus network", remarked Ms. Pécresse, the regional president.

The president of the Ile-de-France region, Valérie Pécresse (C) and the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo (D), on May 23, 2022 in Paris © BERTRAND GUAY / AFP/Archives

"The transport plan is ready" for the Olympics, still assures IDFM, which is working on an application dedicated to transport during the Games to balance the flow of travelers between the lines.

Expected release date: Spring 2024.

Valérie Pécresse is still calling for state aid to balance her budget next year – the additional offer for the Olympics, in particular, must cost 200 million euros –, threatening not to open the new lines if she gets nothing.

On the infrastructure side, a look at the Paris 2024 candidacy file published seven years ago is puzzling.

For example, he promised travel times of “22 minutes to the media village and 30 minutes to the Olympic village from (the airport of) Roissy by line 17” of the future Grand Paris metro.

But this will not be completed before 2030... The CDG Express, a fast train to connect Roissy to the center of Paris, and line 16 will not be there either.

Opening ceremony alert

The only metro that will be open (just) in time: line 14, which must be extended north to Saint-Denis Pleyel near the Olympic village and south to Orly airport.

In June 2024.

"The solutions announced do not seem either sufficient or operationally feasible", judge Iona Lefebvre, of the Institut Montaigne, a think tank on public policies in France.

For her, replacing unfinished metros with buses or shuttles on the Seine "will not meet the needs in a consistent way".

“Road congestion will explode! If we have 185 km of reserved lanes (on the main roads for the needs of the Olympics, editor’s note), I let you imagine the hassle it will be on the Parisian ring road, exclaims. -She.

Valérie Pécresse is also worried about the risks of saturation during the opening ceremony on the Seine on July 26, 2024, "a crossover Friday evening" with 600,000 spectators to be transported in addition to holidaymakers en route to Parisian stations .

"The capacity would be insufficient and it would be dangerous," she warned.

Laurent Probst, managing director of IDFM, claimed less than 500,000 spectators, "otherwise we will not be able to manage".

The reassessment of the gauge is "under study", he said.

Real Madrid supporters leaving a metro station before the Champions League final against Liverpool on May 28, 2022 in Saint-Denis © ABDULMONAM EASSA / AFP/Archives

The scenes of chaos around the Stade de France during the final of the Football Champions League at the end of May are still in everyone's memory.

© 2023 AFP