Paris to halve evening public transport services

The change will enter into effect at 9pm on Wednesday, October 28th, and will affect all services - trains, metros, buses and tramways.

Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) told French media they had decided to reduce their services following a drop in the number of commuters since the introduction of a 9pm evening curfew in the region.

"It makes no sense to run empty trains," said Valérie Pécresse, IDFM President.

Since the curfew entered into effect on October 16th, IDFM saw the number of passengers drop down to just 13 percent of its usual rate after 9pm.

 

Paris, along with 53 other mainland départements, is currently under a strict nighttime curfew set in place in a bid to slow down the spread of the Covid-19 virus in the area.

READ ALSO What you need to know about France's nighttime curfew

These changes enter into effect on Wednesday evening:

• As of 9pm, only one metro in two will be running. Between 8pm and 9pm, services on lines 4, 7 and 13 will be amplified.
• Services will also drop on trains and RERs, with one train in two running after 9pm, except for lines where the waiting time is superior to 30 minutes.
• The number of trams will run as usual on lines T1 and T, which serve hospitals, but reduced to three in four on lines T3, T6 and T8 and one in two on lines T5 and T7.
• As for the bus, one in two buses will run after 9pm on all lines with a waiting time inferior to 30 minutes, except for lines serving hospitals, which will run as normal. Outside the city centre, in the grande couronne suburbs, buses will run as normal until 10pm to ensure correspondence with trains and RERs.

Outside curfew hours services will run as usual, starting at 5am (one hour before the end of curfew).