Just a month ago. Around July 14, two RATP buses burned in Nanterre and Suresnes (Hauts-de-Seine), one of the drivers inhaling tear gas. About ten days after the fatal assault of Philippe Monguillot, bus driver in Bayonne (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), who asked a passenger to wear the mask.
This Thursday again, it was a nurse who had the same requirements towards two 16-year-old teenagers, passengers of a bus in Neuilly-sur-Marne (Seine-Saint-Denis), who was hit on several occasions. Faced with the gravity of the facts, the children's judge requested their placement in pre-trial detention.
Incidents noted almost every day this summer
This gratuitous violence has been repeating itself in a worrying manner in recent years on the RATP network and seems to be exacerbated with the health crisis and the obligation to wear a mask in transport.
"For us, it has become almost commonplace," recognizes a Parisian machinist, "union delegate. Indeed, on reading the daily reports indicating the incidents noted by RATP drivers that we have been able to consult (read below) , this summer, almost every day, at least one machinist has been insulted, threatened or even attacked. Or it's his bus that got stuck.
"When we file a complaint, there is no follow-up"
This gratuitous and generalized violence seems to have become for the machinists a component of the profession. The one that we accept more or less well depending on the mood of the day. “This is obviously not normal, but as it is daily, it unfortunately becomes a habit, confirms Grégory, delegate South. When you file a complaint, there is no follow-up, ”he sighs. “So we end up accepting it. There are days when being insulted will not affect us. And others, where we see it worse ”.
" We do not have the choice. We have to get used to it, adds Carole, a machinist for 25 years. The company is like this and RATP is not spared ”. However, with the outspokenness of the one who does not give way, one could have imagined her to be immune from this kind of problem. But she too has tons of stories of everyday violence to tell. Like this situation, at the end of July: “I couldn't sell a ticket to someone who wanted to go up. So he left, calling me "badly fucked". I laughed at it. Because I prefer to take it like that ”.
"There are times when I want to stop"
Even when they have been physically assaulted, some machinists return. Like Karim, 45, who recounts this time when it went further. That day, a traveler climbs up without paying: “I tell him to validate a transport ticket. If we don't do this, we can be sanctioned by our hierarchy ”. Tone up. The guy ends up spitting on him.
“It was the last straw. I didn't want to let him go, I wanted him to be apprehended by the GPSR (Editor's note: the RATP security group ) ”. But Karim is severely beaten. “Of course since then I let more things go. Sometimes I even forget. Sometimes I think of doing something else. But I have 16 years of seniority, a salary evolution… I'm a little stuck ”.
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VIDEO. A man beaten up in Val-d'Oise for a mask story
And then there are others, like Hassane, 25, beaten with an iron bar because he asked the joint smoker at the back of the bus to come out, who prefer to give up. “It's not worth it,” he blurted out.
"We intervene ten to twenty times a day for insults"
Trade unionists are struggling to find a solution. “We intervene ten to twenty times a day for insults on buses. It's a big problem… But we can't stop every day ”laments Marc Brillaud, SUD RATP general secretary and security officer.
“A few years ago, it's true, as soon as there was an attack on a line, all the machinists decided to go back to the bus depot, admits Mickaël, CGT RATP Bus union representative. Today, this is no longer the case ”.
Security teams must also expand. Ile-de-France Mobilités has hired around 100 additional members. But, "given the high level of requirements demanded by the company, given the sensitivity of the position and the profiles sought in the labor market", RATP has still not succeeded in recruiting as many people as it does. she would like to.
"The opening of bus lines to competition in 2025 may make matters worse," predicts Marc Brillaud, secretary general of Sud RATP. Each operator will be able to choose his security mode. There will inevitably be inequalities. "
That said, RATP machinists are not the only ones to suffer this violence on a daily basis. The lines of private companies in the outer suburbs also have their share of attacks. As again this August 7 in Melun (Seine-et-Marne). When a driver recalled the obligation to wear a mask for two people, one of them threw a stone at the bus. Result: two injured passengers.
On-board cameras and training in the management of sensitive situations
"We take the subject very seriously and react firmly", underlines the management of the Régie to the evocation of the attacks in the buses. “As soon as an agent is a victim of violence, we encourage him to file a complaint, support him in his efforts and offer him psychological support. In addition, upon their arrival in the company, our machinists benefit from training in the management of sensitive situations ", continues the RATP, before however adding," to the image of the company, the company is confronted incivility and acts of violence ”.
Some equipment allows machinists to be protected. First of all, the anti-aggression glass, the first bulwark against physical aggression. A discrete alarm can also be activated by the agent. It is connected to the RATP security post, which can trigger a listening room and send the GPSR or a police team.
Finally, depending on the model, the buses have 6 to 12 onboard cameras. The triggering of the discrete alarm automatically generates the blocking of the recording at an instant T. This device makes it possible, on judicial request, to be able to view the images when the alarm is triggered. Without triggering the discrete alarm, the recording of images is done continuously.
From belt blow to broken window: an impressive list of incidents
Between July 17 and July 30, insults, threats or assaults were recorded almost every day on the RATP bus network.
July 17 , two RATP agents are insulted and threatened (15th, 8th arrondissement), a driver is hit with his belt during a brawl between passengers in Seine-Saint-Denis.
July 18 , a machinist is insulted and threatened for having asked to wear a mask (8th arrondissement). In Saint-Denis, a bus is targeted by projectiles, the driver's side window of another bus is broken following a request to wear a mask.
July 19 , a driver is car-jacké (13th century). In Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine), another is insulted and threatened for "commercial dispute".
July 20 , in Charenton-le-Pont (Val-de-Marne), insults and threats for asking to wear a mask. In Saint-Denis, the driver's window of a bus is broken by an individual.
July 21 , insults and insults against a driver in Longjumeau (Essonne) for asking to wear a mask. Porte d'Asnières (17th century), insults and threats for no apparent reason.
July 22 , in Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis), a machinist is insulted and threatened. In Torcy (Seine-et-Marne), projectiles smash a bus window.
July 25 , the driver is scratched on the forearm by a traveler (15th century). In Rosny-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis), insults and threats for "commercial dispute".
July 27 , in Neuilly-sur-Seine (Hauts-de-Seine) a man threatens and insults the bus driver because he cannot get on his bike. He breaks a rearview mirror. In Pierrefitte (Val-d'Oise) the rear window is. In Saint-Denis, a cyclist insults, threatens and assaults the driver, then breaks a window.
July 28 , a machinist is insulted and threatened after refusing a cyclist to get on the bus with his bicycle (18th century). In Saint-Ouen (Seine-Saint-Denis), machinist insulted.
July 29 , a fight breaks out between travelers at Garenne-Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine), the bus is degraded. Still for a mask, a driver is insulted in Puteaux (Hauts-de-Seine). In Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse (Yvelines) a machinist is threatened and his bus degraded.
July 30 , a passenger is injured by another traveler in Gentilly (Val-de-Marne). In the rest room at the Porte d'Italie (13th century), five officers were sprayed with tear gas by individuals who "asked to come in to cool off".
