For the start of the school year, and after a summer Olympic break, several notable changes are coming into effect on the Ile-de-France transport networks.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo confirmed on Monday, September 9, that the speed limit on the ring road will be 50 km/h as of October 1, without waiting for the government’s opinion. This new measure is in addition to a whole series of changes to public transport in the Paris region, including Liberation make the list.
The end of reserved lanes?
The 185 kilometers of Olympic roads are once again accessible, in part, since this Monday. Their reopening must be done in two stages. Across the outer and inner suburbs, these routes labeled “Olympic and Paralympic pathways” were reserved since July 15 to facilitate the movement of accredited vehicles during the big summer sporting event. The road information site Sytadin announces it, “The dedicated lanes set up for the Olympic and Paralympic Games on the A4, A12 and A13 motorways are deactivated”. On the other hand, “On the A1 motorway, the N13 national road and the ring and circular boulevards (La Défense), the reserved lanes will remain active until September 11”.
Paris City Hall had also announced its intention to make a dedicated lane on the ring road permanent after the Olympics. It would be intended for carpooling and public transport. According to David Belliard, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of mobility, “between 1 and 1.5 million vehicles pass by every day [sur le périph]. And 80% of these vehicles have only one person inside.” Thus, the following could take this route: Cars with 2 or more people, people with disabilities, even alone, taxis, even empty, public transport, emergency vehicles.
In May, the Paris police prefect, Laurent Nuñez, had nevertheless indicated to Parisian municipal officials that they would need his validation to confirm the perpetuation of a carpooling lane: “We will see how things work during the Olympic and Paralympic Games”he said at the time. “It won’t happen without me, because the ring road is one of the roads on which I can impose a certain number of requirements, because these are structuring axes, in particular for the proper functioning of emergency vehicles.”he added.
Public transport prices back to normal
The price of the various transport tickets is back to normal from Monday, September 9. Prices had increased considerably – 15% on average to finance the strengthening of the transport offer by the RATP and the region – from July 20 to September 8, on the occasion of the Olympic Games. This period over, the classic price scale applies. The single metro ticket is (finally) back on sale at 2.15 euros (it had almost doubled this summer, 4 euros). The same for the book of ten tickets: 17.35 euros (compared to 32 euros previously). The Navigo weekly and daily passes are, moreover, back on sale.
For RER journeys outside Paris, the price of a single ticket is back to 5 euros (down one euro), while the price of a book of ten is reduced by 8 euros: back to its original price of 40 euros. Finally, journeys to Paris airports are also returning to their normal prices: 10.30 euros for the Orlybus and 14.50 euros for the Roissybus – they had gone up to 16 euros during the summer.
The reopening of the stations
All metro stations closed during the Olympic Games are now accessible. Former Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete announced in mid-June the reduction of the closure schedule of three stations in the network: those of Champs-Elysées-Clemenceau, Concorde and Tuileries, which were initially due to reopen on September 21.
Access to line 12 via Concorde station is the only one still unavailable – those for lines 1 and 8 are however possible. This is until September 21, due to the dismantling of the Olympic site located on Place de la Concorde – chosen to host the BMX freestyle, breaking, skateboarding and 3×3 basketball events and for the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, as noted by our colleagues at Parisian.
On the T2, T3a and T3b tram lines, the Porte d’Issy, Porte de Versailles and Colette Besson stations are also accessible again. However, work on the various metro and RER lines is resuming: line 14, for example, is closed from 10 p.m., starting this Monday and until December 19, every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evening (except Tuesday, October 15 and Monday, November 11). It will also be completely closed on several Sundays until the end of November.
