Paris: But why are there so few metro stations accessible to the disabled and strollers?

REPORT Today, only 13 metro stations, all on line 14, are actually accessible to people in wheelchairs

July 23, 2018, in Paris. An entrance to the Cours-de-Vincennes metro station. — Clément Follain/20 Minutes

For who has already tried to go from one end to the other; the other side of the capital with a stroller, or even for those who are handicapped by their old age or move around in a wheelchair, one thing is clear: the Paris metro n’ is absolutely not suitable.

According to figures from Ile-de-France mobilités (IDFM), which organizes transport in the region, 9 % of the metro is currently accessible. It’s in fact only about line 14, as the RATP website specifies (and even then, it’s not easy, as shown in the video of our partner Brut below).

The list of accessible metro stations at ratp.fr/accessibilite – A.L.

Four years ago, only 3 % of stations were wheelchair accessible….

Risks of ;collapses

But why is it so difficult to make the metro accessible? Studies “show” that on the old metro lines – some are more than 100 years old – “if we tried to widen the corridors or put in lifts, there are risks of collapses, impossibilities techniques that are strong,” the vice-president of IDFM, Gr Lasteyrie, during a press briefing organized by by the committee organization of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Some stations are also classified as Historic Monuments.

There is also the issue of cost. “These are works that would take from 7 to 12 months. 10 years per line,” at “extremely high cost,” this elected regional representative, to explain the very low accessibility; from the Paris metro.

An improvement for the Olympics

But the situation should improve a bit at this point. the approach of the Olympic Games. The extension of lines 4, 11 and 14 and therefore the new accessible stations will increase the rate of accessibility. from the metro to; 14%. 32 metro stations “will be accessible in 2024”, as well as “28 RER stations” the vice-president of IDFM. 268 SNCF and metro stations should eventually be there in Ile-de-France in  summer 2024.