“I hate being stuck in the middle of other people on the subway. I feel exhausted.”
Bicycle rental shop in front of Place de la Republique in Paris, France, on the afternoon of the 8th (local time).
Jang (32), an office worker carrying a school bag, parked his bicycle and explained why he does not take the subway.
He added, “Even though it sometimes rains, the roads are blocked, and I get stuck at traffic lights, I can see the scenery and get some fresh air. It’s much better than the subway, which is not comfortable.”
Flor (26), who showed up a little later to borrow a bicycle, said she rode a bicycle because “I don’t like the feeling of being trapped.” He commutes to work every day by bicycle. When asked about the situation in the Paris subway, he said, “I don’t even know what the situation is like inside because I don’t take the subway at all.”
French daily Le Figaro told the story of people who chose bicycles instead of the subway, and reported, “For some Parisians, riding the subway in the capital has become an insurmountable ordeal.” Anne Marie (pseudonym , 53
) , interviewed by Le Figaro, was shocked when she took the subway to go back to work after finishing her summer vacation. He said, “I realized how dirty the subway was. There was dirt on the seats and the platform sometimes had an unbearable smell. It was disgusting.” She says she has now decided to commute by bicycle. Pauline (29) said that from a young woman’s perspective, the subway is a place mixed with “sexual dysphoria and widespread anxiety.” The reason why Parisians became more distant from the subway was when Paris Transport Authority ( RATP ) employees went on a large-scale strike in late 2019 to early 2020 in protest against the government’s pension안전놀이터 reform push. When all public transportation in the metropolitan area, including Paris, was cut off for about two months, people had no choice but to use bicycles or walk around.
According to Île-de-France Mobilité, which oversees public transportation in the metropolitan area, the Paris subway has not recovered the number of passengers in 2019 and is stuck at 90%.
The poor conditions of the Paris subway were also subject to investigation.
The Paris Prosecutor’s Office is currently investigating RATP for allegedly failing to properly inform passengers of the level of air pollution in the region.
The National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Safety and Health ( ANSES ) concluded in June last year that the level of toxic fine particles detected inside the subway was three times higher than outside. At the time, the survey was conducted at three stations
out of a total of 309 stations : Auvers on RER Line A, Franklin Roosevelt on Subway Line 1, and Châtelet on Subway Line 4.
RATP is working to improve air quality inside the subway.
According to the daily Le Parisien, RATP will soon begin operation by installing a large ventilation system between Bastille Station and Quai de la La Paix Station on Subway Line 5, which has recently been selected as one of the most poorly ventilated lines.
In December of this year, a map of fine dust concentration by station will be released together with the monitoring organization Air Paris.
In addition, considering that fine wear particles are released every time the train is braked, the goal is to reduce fine particle emissions by more than 60% with new brake pads.
RATP has also begun experiments to spray a fixative that prevents particle emission on the gravel of subway tracks.
Le Parisien introduced that this technology was developed for the Seoul subway in Korea, and reported that as a result of testing at Campoformio Station on Subway Line 5 for one quarter, fine dust (PM10) levels were reported to have decreased by 75 % .