"Metro for all", for an Île-de-France accessible to all travellers
In Île-de-France, 4 out of 10 people are, temporarily or permanently, disabled.
Public transport, a pillar of equal opportunities and quality of life in the city, must guarantee simplified access to social life, studies and employment for all, by adapting collective mobility services to the reality and varied needs of all passengers.
Parents with strollers, the elderly (14.7% of Ile-de-France residents will be over 65 years old in 2027, i.e. more than one million people), young children, travellers with luggage, pregnant women: beyond disability, accessibility in transport benefits all travellers, from young to old.
Metro for all: an ambitious and necessary collective project
Although 100% of metro lines are currently accessible to intellectual, visual and hearing disabilities, some of them are still unsuitable for people with reduced mobility and the daily reality of many passengers.
With the "Metro for all" project, declared a major regional cause in 2024, Valérie Pécresse, President of Île-de-France Mobilités and the Île-de-France Region, wishes to tackle the complex challenge of making it accessible.
Estimated at 20 billion euros over 20 years, the transformation of the Paris metro, in some places more than a hundred years old, is a necessary but thorny project. What for? The historical network is subject to many technical difficulties.
The "Metro for all" conference, thinking today about tomorrow's transport
To bring the project to life, Île-de-France Mobilités organised the "Metro for all" conference on 10 October 2024.
User associations, operators, committed personalities, accessibility specialists, representatives of the State and the Region, all sat around the table to dig deeper into the subject, place the passenger at the centre of the reflections, reflect on the feasibility and financing of the accessibility of the Ile-de-France metro network.
The 3 advances of the "Metro for all" project
- €1 million released to finalise the feasibility study for the accessibility of line 6 (first pilot line made accessible)
- €3 million to map the entire metro network and find concrete solutions
- Creation of a "Metro for all" committee with the Region, the City of Paris, the departments concerned, the RATP and the State to work hand in hand
What if we did it? The case of line 6
Metro line 6, the mythical line of the Paris metro that crosses Paris and flirts with the Eiffel Tower, was chosen for a feasibility study.
With nine elevated stations, four semi-underground stations, seven simple underground stations and underground stations with a large number of connections such as Nation and Charles de Gaulle Étoile, line 6 is a perfect example for thinking about the accessibility of the metro, by practising realistic scenarios and concrete solutions.
The different scenarios for making line 6 accessible
For line 6, several options are currently being considered, from "pearled" accessibility (making a series of consecutive or scattered stations accessible) to complete accessibility of the line.
These scenarios are debated and thought out in close collaboration with the City of Paris, the fire brigade, the operators and the architects of the Bâtiments de France to ensure the feasibility of the project according to the listed buildings, the safety of passengers, the consequences on general traffic or the risks due to the presence of underground gas and water networks.
"Metro for all" project: the next steps
After an initial phase of study and interviews with users, associations and experts, the "Metro for all" project is entering a whole new stage.
At the beginning of 2025, consultation with associations and transport operators will make it possible to refine an action plan before launching the first adaptation works, co-financed by the State, the Île-de-France Region and the City of Paris, under the leadership of Île-de-France Mobilités and the technical design of RATP.
A decisive step towards more inclusive mobility
The "Metro for all" project marks a historic turning point in the revolution of transport in the Ile-de-France region with a clear objective, to give everyone the right to move freely and with dignity in Île-de-France.