The timing is not random. With 500 days and a few handfuls of hours to go before the opening of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Île-de-France Mobilités (IDF Mobilités) has unveiled its transport plan. It promises to be a massive plan, in keeping with one of the major challenges of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The figures speak for themselves: up to 500,000 spectators per day at the 25 Olympic venues in the Paris region, in addition to the usual public transport users, plus between 100,000 and 300,000 people who will be attending the free events (road cycling, marathon, etc.). To sum up, each day of the Games will represent “the equivalent of a peak day in transport, or even a little more.” Ambition displayed by IDF Mobilities: 100% of spectators “must be able to reach the competition sites by public transport.” For the metro and RER, service to the sites will be increased by 15% compared to a normal summer offer. A shuttle service from the main Parisian train stations and the Rosa Parks station in the 19th arrondissement of Paris will be offered to the competition sites, in order to transport the 4,000 people in wheelchairs expected each day. A network of 1,000 air-conditioned buses will be available for accredited participants. Another announcement: the development of a dedicated application, in English and French, designed to offer spectators the best route to the site. A drop-down menu will allow users to select their destination. The application will then suggest a route, the best one, according to the current flows. For Laurent Probst, the general manager of IDF Mobilités, the opening ceremony on July 26 on the Seine promises to be the ultimate challenge. “To manage all this, we would need less than 500,000 spectators“, that is 100,000 less than the current capacity, he estimates. Provided, however, that “the bridges are reopened at the end of the ceremony, because the metro stations on the left bank of the river are not totally adapted for such a large number of spectators.” Finally, Laurent Probst is asking the French authorities to be able to use artificial intelligence, to “recognize an intrusion on the tracks, a traveler’s discomfort or even a crowd movement.” IDF Mobilités would also like to see the authorization of “the wearing of pedestrian cameras by private security agents.“
