” Respond to user expectations “: this will be the first priority of Jean Castex, who has just obtained the approval of the competent committees of the National Assembly and the Senate for his appointment as head of the RATP. Heard on Tuesday evening by the members of the Senate’s Regional Planning Committee and then, Wednesday morning, November 9, by those of the Assembly’s Sustainable Development Committee, the former Prime Minister collected a total of 52 votes in favor and 27 against his appointment as CEO of the Régie. This must now be confirmed by the Council of Ministers.
“My priority of priorities is the core business, and the core business is meeting user expectations” in Ile-de-France where the RATP is currently struggling to run its buses and metros properly, he said. The first difficulty, “absolute urgency”, “It’s about continuity and quality of service”, he admitted. Blame it on a shortage of drivers due to recruitment difficulties and high absenteeism. He gives himself three weeks to establish a “shared diagnosis” and “find additional tools” to restore the situation, with a “issue of quality of life at work”. Mr Castex intends in particular to increase the human presence in contact with travellers, and “to humanize to the maximum [le] service “.
Regarding wages, he intends to anticipate the opening of mandatory annual negotiations (NAO) with the unions as soon as he takes office. The agents have already benefited from an average increase of 5.2% in remuneration this year, he noticed on the eve of a strike which promises to be very popular. More generally, the priorities of the next boss of the RATP will be punctuality, regularity, cleanliness, security, the fight against fraud, the quality of the information given to travelers and the modernization of “ticketing”. The credo of the former prime minister will be “listening, consultation, proximity”.
Talk to Christophe Béchu
Jean Castex intends in particular to make “a very precise inventory of what works [et] of what does not work » with Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM), the regional transport authority chaired by Valérie Pécresse. From “difficulties” who await the future CEO of the RATP, proposed by Emmanuel Macron, Mr. Castex also cited the soaring electricity bill, which should go from 210 million euros last year to around 265 million this year and reach between 480 and 550 million next year. “We will have to see (…) what solutions can be found with IDFM and with the State”he noted.
In this regard, Mr. Castex specified that he would talk about competition in government with the Minister for Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, since the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life has prohibited him from addressing this particular issue with ministers who sat in his government, which was not the case for Mr. Béchu.
As for the significant development of RATP subsidiaries, outside Ile-de-France and in new sectors, in recent years, Mr. Castex is less enthusiastic. “The diversification of activities is important, it makes sense, but in no way should it distract us from our primary and fundamental mission”, he remarked. Clearly: the priority is now to operate the RATP in Ile-de-France and the Régie should ” recenter “ its action outside its historical domain, for example by focusing on automatic metros, according to him.
Jean Castex, who since August 18 has been president of the French Transport Infrastructure Financing Agency (AFIT), wishes “to make oneself useful for the Nation”. “I’m not looking to be reinstated. (…) When you want to relocate friends, it’s more like sinecures. I’m not sure that’s the case.”he launched, recalling that he is passionate about transport and that he had been, in 2019, a candidate to lead the SNCF. “The challenges are not lacking and that motivates me a lot. » And, if he no longer wants to play politics, Mr. Castex insisted on the need to invest in public transport.