The president of the Île-de-France region and Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) wants to make the metro fully accessible to people with reduced mobility.
The organisation of the Paralympic Games has highlighted the challenges of transport accessibility in the capital, where only 25% of tram, metro and RER stations are currently accessible.
“This project could become the big project of the decade with the accessibility of the historic metro”declared Valérie Pécresse during a press conference, presenting her plan for transport during the Paralympic Games.
As president of the Île-de-France region and Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM), she aims to make the entire metro network accessible to people with reduced mobility and has highlighted the importance of this titanic project for the thirteen historic lines of the Paris metro.
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Valérie Pécresse launches “A metro for all”: a colossal project for the accessibility of the Paris metro
According to Valérie Pécresse, it would take at least twenty years to complete this project, with probable “technical impossibilities” at certain stations due to the dense urbanization of Paris. “A metro for all” whose overall cost is estimated at between 15 and 20 billion euros, indicates 20 Minutes.
To estimate this cost, it relies on studies carried out on line 6, which is partly above ground and therefore “cheaper to make accessible”For this line alone, the cost of the work would be between 600 and 800 million euros.
“My proposal is on the table and my hand is extended.”
“I am ready, and I said it, […] to complete this financing plan by making three equal parts, one part Region, one part State, one part City of Paris”said the regional president, stressing the need for close collaboration to finance this project.
Currently, only 29 metro stations on two lines (11 and 14) are accessible to people with reduced mobility.
In Paris intra-muros, “We have 100% accessibility of buses, but only 25% accessibility of the rail network: metro, tram, RER”said Valérie Pécresse.
“My proposal is on the table and the hand is extended,” she insisted, also mentioning the importance of consultation with residents.
During the Paralympic Games, which will take place from 28 August to 8 September, one hundred minibuses will be made available to transport people with disabilities and their companions from eight stations equipped with lifts.
Île-de-France Mobilités plans to welcome up to 300,000 spectators per day, half as many as during the Olympic Games. However, with 5 million passengers expected each day on the network from the start of the school year on September 2, “we’re going to have a lot more people to transport,” notes Valérie Pécresse.
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