I’ve been back for just two month and I already am fed up of the metro & bus situation here. First i thought it was my perception but it is now the third time where I would pay my trip, go down the platform and have to give up after a while because there are too few trains and too many people.

The situation of RATP

I wanted to check if It was just me being crazy or if it was a problem that the press would have already talked about. The bus drivers shortages has been known for a while but I had seen nothing regarding subways. It didn’t took long before I could find an article of the left accusing the right and Valerie Pecresse of the situation. Who is VP? Well she is the chief of the region of Paris, and somehow the costs and governance of this subjects belongs to her… The article relates that the level of service is not back to normal as it was before Covid, the region and VP defends that they had huge costs because the loss of passengers and that they can not afford to have more subways.

You have to imagine that on very busy lines of the center, which are very busy around office hours, you only have 1 train every 5/6 minutes. It’s crazy, not to mention the fact that most trains on many lines have been in use for the last 40 years at least and have no confort and no ventilation.

I even tried to take the subway on a non busy hour, like 3pm on a Thursday, and had to let 3 trains past by before being able to board a 30 degrees hell. It juste makes me think we are now the new third world…

The impact on the economy

The impact is indirect, you can’t go to work or you can’t go to an appointment and the only safe way is too go by walking or bike but it’s really crazy too nowadays…

We don’t let people work, and politics don’t care because they don’t use public transportation. Just check the station called Assemblée nationale which is always empty, has no phone service but little would they know… the infamous station is on line 12, known as the Mordor or the worst ever line, with super vintage trains form the 70s, incidents few times a day at least, and many stations overwhelmed by the amount of crackhead living there.

What a romantic view of Paris, i feel ashamed a bit more everyday regarding tourist visiting us… which bring us back to the next subject…

Olympic Games 2024?

Paris is not ready, after losing the presidential race with 1%, the mayor of Paris will make the entire world laughing at us for a while. Her last goal is to have the welcoming parade on the Seine river… which is impossible to secure.

Paris is full of mice and rats, but the mayor’s office renamed rat bit mouse to make people feel like they care. You can find trashed everywhere in public places, bike roads have been added to the roads which is nice but without thinking that people might need to travel by car too. To the point where huge boulevards which were 5 lanes are now one… a bit like subways you can never find a time where it’s empty except maybe at 5 am…