“At least 20 million euros in damage”. Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM), a local public institution in charge of financing transport in the region, has drawn up an initial assessment of the financial cost of the riots of the last few days for public transport. The IDFM estimates that the destruction inflicted on equipment and vehicles amounts to several tens of millions of euros, learned Le Figaro, confirming information from Le Parisien.
Burned buses, drivers taken to task, trams targeted by fireworks … The riots of the last few days, triggered after the death of young Nahel killed by a policeman on June 27 in Nanterre, caused a lot of damage in Ile-de-France transport. The regional transport authority has identified a total of 39 buses burned throughout Ile-de-France since the start of the riots, in particular 12 buses in the RATP depot in Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis) and 14 buses in the depot of the ProCars company in Provins (Seine-et-Marne). The train of the T6 tram line was completely destroyed by the flames in Clamart and the T10 line badly damaged.
“A bus costs between 300,000 and 500,000 euros depending on the engine, a tram costs between 3 million euros and up to 5 million euros”, we explain at IDFM, specifying that the T6 train which was completely destroyed is “a model on tires equipped with a particular technology which is no longer manufactured”. It is then necessary to add to this the cost of the damage on the T5, T9 and T10, whereas it was sometimes necessary to “cut the rails out of the ground”, “not to mention the street furniture or the asphalt on the road”. All this represents a “certain economic cost”, according to IDFM.
Regarding the organization that will have to pay this heavy bill, the IDFM ensures that it is “still too early to know in detail the terms of payment and its precise distribution”. Surface transport in Île-de-France, bus and tram therefore, will once again end their day at 9 p.m. at the latest this Monday evening, “to preserve the safety of agents and travelers” even if the The intensity of the riots has decreased markedly, the IDFM had indicated earlier in the day. The regional transport authority invited “travellers to anticipate their trips now”.
