An elected official from Essonne denounces the inaccessibility of transport in the Paris region for people with reduced mobility

Pierrick Courilleau says he missed the passage of the Paralympic flame because there was no agent at the station to help him use public transport. The elected representative from Orsay denounces a lack of accessibility for people with reduced mobility.

While Paris welcomes thousands of athletes with disabilities for the Paralympic Games, the capital’s transport network is still largely inaccessible to people with reduced mobility. A situation that Pierrick Courilleau, municipal councillor in Orsay in Essonne, is campaigning against.

Because to use public transport, someone who uses a wheelchair must plan their journeys in advance. “When you are in the RATP zone, you have a user service that is generally up to standard, but when you are in the SNCF zone it is hell because you have to book 24 hours in advance and show up 30 minutes before boarding,” explains the city councilor.

“The flame had passed, it was over”

But last week, when he wanted to go see one of his acquaintances carry the Paralympic flame, his journey to the 15th arrondissement of Paris did not go as planned. There was no agent present to help him at the RER B station. So after long minutes of waiting, he had to change departure stations.

“Given the lack of agents, I had to change my route to try to make up for the three-quarters of an hour lost, I arrived on site late, (…) the flame had passed, it was over”, regrets Pierrick Courilleau.

This frustration is unfortunately all too regular for this elected official who must constantly adapt. “The Porte de Versailles stop where we were supposed to stop is not served, we are going to cheat and catch up with the cycle path,” he shows in front of the BFM Paris Île-de-France camera.

“Accessibility is not negotiable”

Pierrick Courilleau denounces a lack of accessibility of public transport for people with disabilities whose journeys are, according to him, two to three times longer than those of able-bodied people.

“We have clearly seen a deterioration in the quality of service, accessibility is not variable geometry, it is not negotiable,” Pierrick Courilleau insists. “Today we have 3% of accessible metro stations, only two RER lines, we have to pay full price for Navigo for a network that is three quarters inaccessible.”

During a press conference held on August 26, the president of Île-de-France Mobilités, Valérie Pécresse, stated that 100% of buses are accessible to all, compared to “only 25%” of the metro, tram and RER network.

She also shared her wish to make “a metro for all”. This project could require at least 20 years of work for an estimated cost of between 15 and 20 billion euros.

The Île-de-France region is ready to cover a third of the total cost of the work. Valérie Pécresse has called on the State and the city of Paris to contribute the same amount in turn in order to finance the remaining two thirds.