Of the 25 public elevators in the City of Paris, only nine work.
An “unacceptable situation” that Lamia El Aaraje, deputy (PS) at the town hall in charge of universal accessibility and people with disabilities, and Jérôme Coumet, mayor of the 13th arrondissement, denounced during a press point organized this Wednesday.
In their sights: OTIS and Schliendler, the two operators responsible for the maintenance of public elevators, which they order to “respond to their obligations” by better anticipating breakdowns.
According to elected officials, elevator operators cite “problems with the stock of spare parts” and “human resources” to explain the poor maintenance of the park.
With real consequences on the lives of Parisians.
“Every time an elevator breaks down, people are prevented from moving around and being independent,” insists Lamia El Aaraje.
21 elevators operational by the Games
Seven months after the publication of an article in which
Le Parisien
counted 22 elevators broken down in the capital, the results remain very mixed.
In detail, of the sixteen elevators currently out of service, four require light repairs and should be operational by the end of April, one is occupied by a homeless person, and eleven need major repairs on which the City is " awaiting feedback” from service providers.
A total of 21 elevators are expected to be operational before the Olympic and Paralympic Games, during which 350,000 visitors with disabilities are expected in the capital.
A result that Jérôme Coumet considers “lamentable” in terms of accessibility.
“It’s the lift engineers who install the elevators.
That they are not capable of repairing something that they built themselves is a problem,” criticizes the councilor.
Faced with repeated breakdowns, the residents of his district, which has a total of 17 elevators, call on him daily.
“I often give fantasy dates to residents because the elevator operators always find a new date to give me, it’s unbearable.
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Between the City and the service providers, however, the dialogue has not broken off.
“We meet with them every two weeks.
We propose to provide them with spaces to store the parts as close as possible to the places where they work, underlines Lamia El Aaraje.
On the question of recruitment, we have opened a discussion with the region to strengthen the number of qualifying training courses allowing us to have efficient technicians.
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So much for the carrot.
For the stick, the City promises sanctions if the deaf dialogue continues.
In 2023, 40,000 euros in penalties, “the legal maximum”, were thus applied to OTIS.