The new president of the RATP presented his apologies and his regrets to the millions of daily users for the deterioration in the quality of service.
His arrival was expected: for the first time, the new Chairman and CEO of the RATP, Jean Castex, presented himself to a board of directors of the transport organizing authority of the capital region, Île-de-France Mobilities (IDFM), this Friday. The meeting, chaired by Valérie Pécresse and in which the SNCF also participated, was an opportunity to return to the dismal record of public transport in the Ile-de-France in recent months, in particular in the buses and metros of the RATP.
The president of the public transport group began by acknowledging the deterioration in the quality of service in recent months. “I am aware of it, he assured, and I would like to say to the millions of users who use our services daily (…) my regrets, my apologies.” As for the improvement of traffic conditions, we will have to be patient. John Castex “hope well» a return to normal in the metros and trams from 1er April 2023, he said. On the other hand, for bus users, who saw a quarter of the offer passed to the ace in 2022, it will be necessary to wait for the summer.
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“We will do everything to do better, but there are still a number of issues that need to be resolved.“, apologized the former prime minister. The CEO has set himself the objective of recruiting 4,500 people in 2023 alone, including 2,000 bus drivers and 400 metro drivers, to make up for the human resource deficits that are undermining the transport network. More or less double that of last year, in a job market that is still very tight.
“A significant volume of work”
To meet the challenge, the company intends toactivate all the levers“. In detail, Jean Castex explained that the company was working to improve its recruitment processes. The use of work-study and apprenticeships is also widely considered, as well as in-house training. “We even train at night!“, launched the CEO of the RATP.
Despite his mea culpa, Jean Castex stressed that signs of improvement were already noticeable in recent weeks. On the Paris metro network, overall, 96.3% of the offer was honored on January 9, after a month of December at 89.7% of the offer. Overall production on line 12, more impacted than the others, only reached 86%. “We are trying to have a specific plan on the 12“, assured the CEO of the RATP. As for the surface network, 85% of the buses ordered by the region are running today, compared to 75% just a few weeks ago.
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These encouraging promises for 2023 have however been overshadowed by the work forecasts on the various lines. “There will be a lot of work this year“, warned Valérie Pécresse, boss of IDFM, predicting a “difficult year“. A finding confirmed by all operators in Île-de-France, and in particular Matthieu Chabanel, CEO of SNCF Réseau, which takes care of the Transilien and RER lines outside Paris. “We need to have a significant volume of work to renew, modernize this network“, he said. Travelers are warned.
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