As you know, our beloved Paris metro is different from other megacities such as New York, London or Berlin. It doesn’t run non-stop, but stops after 1:00 a.m., much to the annoyance of some users. Yes, it’s not just night owls and hard-core party-goers who would like the metro to run day and night. Some professions, such as hospital staff, delivery drivers, cooks and cleaners, have staggered working hours that don ‘t always allow them to take the metro while on duty… An idea that is once again the subject of debate!
The metro open all night in Paris? The debate is rekindled
Socialist Emmanuel Grégoire recently rekindled the debate: should the metro run all night? A far from silly question, since other major cities in Europe and around the world have long since adopted it. The candidate for mayor of Paris is convinced of the public utility of such a move. For him, it would “reduce the number of isolated journeys on foot and limit the use of expensive cabs or VTCs”. We’re thinking in particular of students, whose budgets are very often limited , or of people living in the suburbs and women who would rather adopt a reliable mode of transport like VTC than risk returning on foot at a certain time of night…
We know that the city of Paris can punctually put some of its lines into service beyond 1am. This is already the case for major events such as Nuits Blanches, the Fête de la musique and New Year’s Eve. According to Le Parisien, last year for June 21, six metro lines, six suburban trains and five RERs were in service all night long, in order to facilitate night-time travel.
A thorny issue, estimated to cost 500 million euros…
In 2019, Valérie Pécresse had already raised this subject, explaining that it would be impossible to operate the Paris metros all night long. Hundreds of worksites are carried out at this time. What’s more, such a measure would be extremely costly: around 500 million euros. And all 226 km of track would have to be maintained, which seems impossible at present.
As you can see, the debate is far from over… What do you think?