Behind his smile and his sense of humor hides an uncompromising look at the daily life of disabled people in transport.
Ludivine Poivre, 44, has been in a wheelchair for seven years due to a genetic disease.
This dynamic social worker then saw her life turned upside down, especially in her daily mobility, she who used to go out a lot in Ile-de-France.
“There, I understood that I had to book my RER… It's a concept anyway.
In a region like Ile-de-France where there is so much to do, we can no longer improvise anything.
I am however of a nature to anticipate, but anticipating everything to this point, I did not think… ”, admits Ludivine.
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This resident of Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), however, does not want to give up public transport.
"When I have an appointment at the Lariboisière hospital in Paris, it is only at an RER station from my home, I will not charge a taxi to the Sécu", believes she.
And specialized PAM-type personal transport is still too expensive for regular use: "17 or 18 euros for a return trip to Paris, I only do it once in a while."
So Ludivine uses transport, when it is accessible to people with reduced mobility.
This is the case for buses, trams, RER A and B and more and more SNCF stations on the Transilien lines.
But not from the metro, except line 14. But even when stations or stations are supposed to be accessible, on paper, Ludivine faces many difficulties.
"I would say that there is a problem on at least 10% of the trips," she calculates, although she recognizes some progress.
Stuck for an hour and a half on a platform
A few years ago, you had to reserve your place with the SNCF the day before for the next day.
After actions with the SNCF, in particular the ANPIHM (National Association for the Integration of People with Motor Disabilities), of which she is an administrator, people with reduced mobility are able to come directly to an accessible station (from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., excluding weekends and holidays), without reservation.
“There is supposed to be an agent.
But I can't even count the number of times no one was there anymore.
In Seine-Saint-Denis, some agents are flying at several stations.
He just has to not be there by the time I arrive, and I have to wait. "
Because even if the elevator works to go to the platform, a ramp is still very often needed, which SNCF agents deploy to allow people in wheelchairs to climb from the platform to the train.
A problem that should no longer exist with all new trains, now all level with the platform.
But very few are still in service.
“All this work in the stations is important.
But we still have to be able to get on the trains.
You need staff, ”she insists.
Otherwise, it is often resourcefulness, even downright galley.
Half jaded, half outraged, Ludivine aligns the anecdotes on her sometimes chaotic journeys, with a biting irony.
Like that day when she got stuck for an hour and a half on a platform at the RER B station of Plaine-Stade-de-France, coming back from Paris.
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“The elevator was broken, and the access to the ramp was closed for works… We had to call the fire department.
My valid companion was angrier than me, ”she smiles, a bit fatalistic.
This other time, it is an SNCF agent who, although present, did not have the possibility of carrying the ramp to help Ludivine to go up… because he was himself handicapped.
Or again, one day when she took five hours to make a return trip Saint-Denis - Boulogne.
"We're up to ass, it's not pleasant"
Ludivine, however, is not too severe with the SNCF, and recognizes that many agents are nice and do their best.
Sometimes it's the behavior of travelers that is the problem.
Perhaps this feeling of being invisible to others, when hands rest on her armchair to lean on it "as in a store-bought cafe", and shake her seat, making her suffer.
Or handbags or backpacks that are found in the figure.
"We're up to the ass, it's not pleasant," she still laughs.
Even more serious, but fortunately rarer, this time when Ludivine, in the middle of rush hour, when she had booked her RER B for an important and early meeting in Paris, is denied access to the crowded train ... by other passengers.
"I do not believe it.
This pissed off the driver, who got out.
He said he wouldn't leave if they didn't let me go upstairs.
I was afraid it would end badly.
Thanks again to him… ”
On the work in progress, she especially hopes that the elevators will work. "This is not always the case, even in new stations such as the T11 at Epinay-sur-Seine." Large construction sites, such as the one in Saint-Denis, promise to improve accessibility in transport. “I have a friend who lives just behind the station, in L'Ile-Saint-Denis. But since it is not accessible, it takes three quarters of an hour in a wheelchair to take the RER to La Plaine, explains Ludivine. I really hope it will improve. But it will take people and services with it. ”
