Paris Olympics 2024: Public Transport Promises vs Reality

The Olympics with metro. Ecology demands, the application file of Paris, in 2016, was completely dependent on public transport to provide access to the 25 Ile-de-France sites of the Games. The promises were beautiful. Direct and fast connections from airports to the city center thanks to the Charles-de-Gaulle Express train from Roissy and the extension of metro line 14 to Orly. And to reach the suburbs, the new lines 15, 16, 17 will enter service in the summer of 2024 as part of the Grand Paris Express, the massive automated metro project being built around the capital. Finally, new innovations were announced, such as flying taxis from airports, and river transport routes on the Seine.

But since then, many of these projects have been shelved. Neither the CDG Express nor the Grand Paris Express lines will see the light of day before the end of 2025. At best. In 2021, the risks of these titanic projects together with the consequences of Covid, causing costs and deadlines to move, defeated an overly ambitious schedule.

As for inventions, licensing problems have clearly narrowed their scope. So, without getting a full qualification, the German business started Volocopter they won’t be able to operate commercial flights with their Volocity electric vertical takeoff machines during the Olympics as he would like.

It will be possible to take only a few hand-picked “guests” on trips, still subject to authorization, between Issy-les-Moulineaux heliport and Paris-Austerlitz vertiport, installed on a temporary boat, or from Issy to Saint-Cyr-l’Ecole airport, and between Bourget business airport and Roissy airport. A consolation prize that will please CEO Dirk Hoke: “If we can fly to Paris, we can fly to every city in the world”!

In terms of river transport, the Voies Navigables de France have chosen two autonomous electric shuttle projects, from the Gironde company BlueNav and the Ile-de-France collaboration RiverCat. But the service to the capital is currently in limbo, due to the lack of an agreement with Haropa Port, the port manager of Paris and the nearby suburbs.

Is access to the Games venues at risk? Some projects should be delivered on time such as the extension of the RER E to Nanterre, from line 14 towards Carrefour Pleyel in Saint-Denis, to the north, and Orly airport to the south. The extension of the T3b tramway to Porte Dauphine was put into service in early April.

Without the encouragement of the Games, “the major projects to modernize transport in the Ile-de-France region would not have progressed at this pace,” says Valérie Pécresse, president of the region. But there is a major obstacle still there: network saturation.

The application promised to “make transport an enjoyable experience”. Today, “everyone is crossing their fingers so that there are no bumps on lines that have to swallow an extra million passengers every day”, worries Marc Pélissier , from the user association FNAUT.

Eight lines should increase their service by 23% and three by 60 to 70% (metro 9, RER A and C), ensuring an area. SNCF and RATP are moving their staff for the summer and speeding up recruitment. Will this be enough? ?

The Paris 2024 organizing committee has set up a transport headquarters with cameras controlled by around fifty employees, in permanent communication with the RATP, the SNCF and the police headquarters. It should make it possible to remap routes on apps in case of congestion. If ticket holders don’t follow Valérie Pécresse’s advice: favor walking, “it’s good for your health!” »