What's causing the crowding and delays on the Paris Metro?
Driver shortages, upgrade works and passenger behaviour have all been blamed for increasing delays and crowing on the Paris Metro.
Complaints about infrequent trains, long delays and packed services are becoming more and more common among Paris commuters and images of crowded platforms and rammed carriages are a regular occurence on social media.
The capital's public transport operator RATP acknowledged that there are fewer trains running that normal on many lines, leading to longer waits and crowded carriages.
A driver shortage is partially to blame for delays on the Paris Metro, officials have said.
Ongoing upgrade work, due to continue through the first quarter of 2023, and an increase in the number of incidents involving members of the public were also cited by RATP as reasons for Metro services failing to hit targets, to the frustration and mounting anger of regular users.
Journalists from Le Parisien recently conducted a three-day survey of services on all 14 lines of the Metro, monitoring services for 30 consecutive minutes, during morning and evening rush hour.
Their study revealed discrepancies between what Île-de-France Mobilités expects from RATP and the annoying on the platforms.
On one day in mid-December passengers waited an average of nearly four minutes between trains on line 8, when IDFM demands one every 2 minutes 20 seconds. On line 12, 4 minutes and 26 seconds separated the trains, more than the 2 minutes 50 on the books.
Some passengers on line 12 had to let six trains pass before they could board and continue their journey, such was the overcrowding on the platform.
Contract expectations are not being met on the majority of lines, according to Le Parisien - and no improvement is expected before the end of the first quarter of 2023, RATP told the paper.
"The slightest incident, accident or slight delay on a line makes it impassable," Marc Pélissier, president of the Association des usagers des transports en Île-de-France, said. "There comes a time when there are so many people [on the platform] that it becomes difficult to close the doors and the Metro's downtime increases. This can cause discomfort and create new incidents."
September’s punctuality figures for the Metro - the latest currently available - show that between eight and 16 percent of services on lines 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 12, and 13 ran behind schedule.
IDFM’s director general Laurent Probst told AFP at the time: "It's rare to have such low figures on several Metro lines."
Punctuality and staffing issues on the Metro mirror long-standing problems on bus services in the region, as RATP struggles to recruit drivers.
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Complaints about infrequent trains, long delays and packed services are becoming more and more common among Paris commuters and images of crowded platforms and rammed carriages are a regular occurence on social media.
The capital's public transport operator RATP acknowledged that there are fewer trains running that normal on many lines, leading to longer waits and crowded carriages.
A driver shortage is partially to blame for delays on the Paris Metro, officials have said.
Ongoing upgrade work, due to continue through the first quarter of 2023, and an increase in the number of incidents involving members of the public were also cited by RATP as reasons for Metro services failing to hit targets, to the frustration and mounting anger of regular users.
Journalists from Le Parisien recently conducted a three-day survey of services on all 14 lines of the Metro, monitoring services for 30 consecutive minutes, during morning and evening rush hour.
Their study revealed discrepancies between what Île-de-France Mobilités expects from RATP and the annoying on the platforms.
On one day in mid-December passengers waited an average of nearly four minutes between trains on line 8, when IDFM demands one every 2 minutes 20 seconds. On line 12, 4 minutes and 26 seconds separated the trains, more than the 2 minutes 50 on the books.
Some passengers on line 12 had to let six trains pass before they could board and continue their journey, such was the overcrowding on the platform.
Contract expectations are not being met on the majority of lines, according to Le Parisien - and no improvement is expected before the end of the first quarter of 2023, RATP told the paper.
"The slightest incident, accident or slight delay on a line makes it impassable," Marc Pélissier, president of the Association des usagers des transports en Île-de-France, said. "There comes a time when there are so many people [on the platform] that it becomes difficult to close the doors and the Metro's downtime increases. This can cause discomfort and create new incidents."
September’s punctuality figures for the Metro - the latest currently available - show that between eight and 16 percent of services on lines 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 12, and 13 ran behind schedule.
IDFM’s director general Laurent Probst told AFP at the time: "It's rare to have such low figures on several Metro lines."
Punctuality and staffing issues on the Metro mirror long-standing problems on bus services in the region, as RATP struggles to recruit drivers.
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