This may seem anecdotal, but it is nevertheless one of the main requests of the Ile-de-France public transport user associations: “to improve passenger information”. Believing that they have heard their complaints, the organizing authority for public transport in the Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) and the RATP presented this Wednesday the new billboards which will replace the existing ones in all metro stations. Parisians. Called “Panam” – for “metro billboards” – they will first be installed on lines 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 by the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, before being deployed on other lines. In total, 242 metro stations will be modernized before June, with 484 “Panam” deployed. “Or 32 new panels installed every week on average,” the two institutions jointly welcomed.
“These signs are intended to replace all the existing signs, which currently only provide information on the waiting time for the next two trains,” explains Hélène Laborie, director of operational marketing for the RATP rail service network. According to her, the great novelty of these panels will be to provide more “textual information on possible disruptions” underway on the network. In addition, she mentions “a new design which allows immediate visual recognition, enriched information and much more readable for all travelers”, including for people with disabilities. In particular thanks to “a larger size” and “more intelligible sound announcements”.
“The objective is to deploy as many as possible before the Olympics, then on lines 3, 3bis, 7, 7bis and 13 by the end of 2024,” explains Jean Castex, CEO of the RATP, which recalls lines 4 and 14, already have modern screens on the platforms and platform platforms. These panels “include much more information than the old ones, for lower energy consumption”, continues the former prime minister, “knowing that unlike the old ones, these models can be turned off and that their maintenance will now be simpler, lighter “. At the same time, the head of the RATP announces the deployment of new information panels on its RER network, on line A and on the southern part of RER B.
The installation of these new panels “at a cost of 15 million euros supported by IDFM” is part of an ambitious policy of “redesigning all passenger information” for which IDFM has invested 300 million euros, explains Valérie Pécresse. According to her, the challenge is above all to offer unified passenger information, common to the different metro, RER and Transilien networks. “I fought a lot so that we could provide information on the modal shift from RATP to SNCF, and from SNCF to RATP”, particularly when one or the other network is suffering.
An important point according to Arnaud Bertrand, the president of the users association Plus de trains, who – if he does not dispute the interest of these new “more beautiful, more readable” billboards – underlines that we could do much better on the issue of passenger information. “There are still too many difficulties on the part of the RATP to offer interesting alternatives on the SNCF lines,” he believes. And to take the example of the collapse of the staircase which had blocked the T2 tram at Meudon station: “at the time, we had to demand that the RATP tell users that there were alternatives in Transilien very close”. “Providing quality information when there is a hazard on a journey, it is for this specific purpose that we must invest,” concludes the expert.
