Bus drivers are on the front line facing violence from certain motorists: according to our information, nearly 1,500 attacks targeting RATP bus drivers have been recorded in 2024. A figure that is striking.
Their daily life has become “hellish”. According to our information, four attacks on bus drivers take place every day in Île-de-France. According to internal documents that RMC obtained, nearly 1,500 attacks targeting RATP bus drivers were recorded last year. Insults, threats, spitting, even punches and use of tear gas.
“Traffic disputes” constitute the number 1 trigger for these attacks. This is followed by cases of travelers upset at not being able to get on or off the bus between two stops and the behavior of intoxicated travelers.
Three factors that explain these tensions
This figure is striking, even if it should be remembered that 5,000 buses run daily in Paris and its surrounding suburbs. Most of the time, these are verbal attacks, an insult uttered by a motorist in too much of a hurry or a threat made by a traveler who insists on getting off between two stops.
But some altercations are more violent, with bus drivers sprayed with tear gas or even, in the most extreme cases, beaten. The CGT points to three factors to explain these tensions: a service offering lower than travelers' expectations, degraded traffic conditions in Paris, but also a more conflictual society as a whole.
“They wanted to hit me, just for a horn”
In June, Karim is driving his bus when he sees a colleague about to have an accident. He honks his horn to warn him, but next to him, two motorists are getting angry.
“The passengers in the vehicle thought I was honking at them, so they rolled down the window to tell me to get out. They then got on my bus and pressed their heads against mine. They wanted to hit me, just for a horn,” he tells RMC.
A colleague intervenes to prevent the attack. Karim filed a complaint and has since been on sick leave, in shock from these repeated attacks. “On the same day, an hour before, another motorist insulted me. He then blocked me with his vehicle and asked me to get out. The job has become hellish.”
Ahmed Berrahal of the CGT collects testimonies like that of Karim every day. More and more violent attacks for increasingly futile reasons: “When the bus is late, people get angry. We're getting to the point of beating people up, with tear gas, with fists, with spit… It has to stop, we're fed up.”
Ahmed Berrahal asks RATP for more staff on buses for greater safety. Contacted, the company points out that it uses video protection and that 1000 security agents patrol ready to intervene in the event of attack.
Victor Joanin and Joana Chabas
