Tipped to lead the Autonomous Paris Transport Board, former Prime Minister Jean Castex spent two hours in front of the Senate.
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Lhe former Prime Minister Jean Castex, tipped to lead the RATP, wants to focus on “the core business” of the Régie in Ile-de-France, currently facing operating difficulties, he said on Tuesday during of his oral presentation before the Senate’s regional planning committee. Human resources are according to him “the first subject that is on the table”, while the RATP is struggling to circulate buses and metros correctly for lack of drivers, and a strike promises to be massively followed on Thursday.
He gives himself three weeks to establish a “shared diagnosis” and “find additional tools” aimed at combating absenteeism and accelerating recruitment, with a “issue of quality of life at work”. “My priority of priorities is the core business, and the core business is meeting the expectations of users”, underlined Jean Castex, citing punctuality, regularity, cleanliness, safety, the fight against fraud, the quality of information given to travelers and the modernization of ticketing.
“Listening, consultation, proximity”
In particular, it intends to increase the human presence in contact with travelers, and “to humanize (the) service as much as possible”. “The diversification of activities is important, it makes sense, but in no way should it divert us from our primary and fundamental mission”, he remarked, while the RATP has multiplied the subsidiaries and won calls for offers around the world in recent years. The creed of the former Prime Minister will be “listening, consultation, proximity”, he noted. He intends in particular to make “a very precise inventory of what works, what does not work” with Ile-de-France Mobilités, the regional transport authority chaired by Valérie Pécresse. Among the “difficulties” awaiting the future CEO of the RATP, proposed by Emmanuel Macron, Jean Castex cited the soaring electricity bill. “It’s not meant to discourage me. It spurs me on,” he assured senators.
READ ALSOJean Castex at RATP, a choice that is already derailing
To senators who were surprised to see him again “only 104 days” after having interviewed him for his appointment to the presidency of the Agency for the financing of transport infrastructures in France (Afit) – a position he has held since Aug.18 – Jean Castex replied that the post of RATP boss was “not vacant” at the time, with outgoing CEO Catherine Guillouard announcing her decision on September 1. Jean Castex must still be heard on Wednesday morning by the National Assembly’s Sustainable Development Committee. The members of the two committees in the Senate and the Assembly must decide on his candidacy, which they can reject with a three-fifths majority.