Endless wait, buses canceled… Ile-de-France residents have been faced with an untenable situation in recent weeks.
A disorder caused in particular by the lack of drivers at the RATP.
Less than two years from the 2024 Paris Olympics, concern reigns.
Anne Hidalgo is all the more moved as on January 1, 2025 the network must open up to competition, which according to her could add a little more disorder.
For this reason, the mayor (PS) of Paris sent a letter to Élisabeth Borne, the Prime Minister, on Friday December 16.
In this missive, which we have obtained, she clearly asks that "the opening to competition of the bus network be re-examined or, at the very least, postponed well beyond January 1, 2025".
Read alsoOpening to competition from the RATP: why the company is struggling to reform
To justify her remarks, Anne Hidalgo begins by recalling that “the Ile-de-France public transport network represents a unique infrastructure in the world, which, as you know, is experiencing strong tensions.
Also, as the Games approach, I would like to alert you to the major risks posed by the implementation of competition for the bus network on the transport offer and on the organization of this major event.
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Why ?
Because, anticipates Anne Hidalgo, this competition will “disrupt well upstream the organization and relations between Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM), operators and partner communities”.
Risk of deteriorating working conditions
She writes in particular that, “the competitive bidding operations are regularly accompanied by social movements and strikes, all the more disrupting the supply of transport.
However, according to the calendar, the operators who will be awarded the various lots will obviously be known well before the Olympic Games, to enable them to prepare.
"We cannot afford to disrupt social dialogue, nor run the risk of a deterioration in working conditions, even though the return to a 100% offer is still not effective, that the RATP is experiencing difficulties on more than 150 bus lines and that 1,500 drivers are still missing.
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Anne Hidalgo also points out that this major change "implies the performance of a number of operations, such as the recovery of property assigned to the RATP, which will seriously disrupt IDFM and the RATP in the preparation of the Olympic and Paralympic Games".
In the longer term, the mayor of Paris does not seem thrilled anyway.
She fears a “fragmentation of the offer between different operators”.
“The division into 12 lots of Paris and the inner suburbs, strongly contested by local elected officials, will only complicate the management of public transport within the metropolitan area.
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