In 2024, all eyes will be on public transport in the Ile-de-France region as expectations are high in this area before the Olympic and Paralympic Games are held in the region. The event is sold as “100% accessible by public transport”. While prices are due to increase from January 1, other important changes are expected throughout the year, such as the entry into service of the T12 and T3b tramway to Porte Dauphine or the extension of the line 14 to the north and south. Le Figaro takes stock of the big news to come in the coming months.
These are always particularly anticipated events: several extensions of existing lines are planned this year. First with that of metro line 11, between Mairie des Lilas – current terminus – to Rosny-Bois-Perrier. This new portion – the opening of which was postponed to spring – will then extend over 6 km, including 5.4 km in commercial operation, and will serve six new stations, including one via viaduct.
Another project scheduled for delivery in the spring: the commissioning of the T3b tramway to Porte Dauphine. The line which stops today at Porte d’Asnières will thus be extended west to Place Dauphine, at the bottom of avenue Foch (16th), serving the communes of Levallois-Perret and Neuilly- sur-Seine thanks to seven new stations.
Then come the two extensions of the RER E to the west to La Défense, with three new stations: Porte-Maillot, La Défense and Nanterre-la-Folie, i.e. 8 km of tunnel; and line 14, essential to the successful holding of the Olympic Games. By mid-2024, the line will then serve eight new stations, including one in the north to the future Grand Paris Express hub, Saint-Denis-Pleyel, and seven in the south, to Orly airport.
In addition to these extensions, new lines must also see the light of day, in the inner and outer suburbs. Launched just a few days ago between Massy and Évry-Courcouronnes, in Essonne, the T12 tramway now serves 16 stations and no less than 12 municipalities, on 20 km of tracks. The commissioning of the T Zen 4, equipped with 30 new generation 100% electric buses, must then follow in this same department. This “high quality of service” line will then connect Viry-Châtillon and Corbeil-Essonnes.
Finally, 5 new Noctilien lines will open in 2024: the N147 between Gare de l’Est and Persan-Beaumont, the N123 between Châtelet and Arpajon, the N160 between Montparnasse and Plaisir-Grignon, the N161 between Montparnasse and La Verrière Station or the N162, between Montparnasse and Rambouillet.
But all these new lines come at a cost. And if this must be partly covered by Ile-de-France companies – some of which will see their participation via the mobility payment (VM) increase in 2024 – users will also have to put their hands in their pockets. And this, from January 1st.
From Monday, the price of the Navigo pass will in fact increase to 86.40 euros per month, compared to 84.10 euros last year and 75.20 euros in 2022. An increase of 15% in prices in less than two years therefore, for everyday users. As for annual subscribers, they will have to pay for a pass at 950.40 euros, or 25 euros more than last year.
An “increase limited to that of inflation” defended by the president of the region and of Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) Valérie Pécresse, who precisely insists on the need to finance all these new services, until ‘in 2030 at least. Date on which the Grand Paris Express – future 200 km supermetro under construction all around the capital – will have to be largely delivered.
The year 2024 will above all be that of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris. On this occasion, and this is a great first, special prices will be put in place during the event, in particular to finance the 15% increase in the offer which will be proposed on these dates and estimated at 200 million euros. They are aimed at the more than 11 million visitors and other tourists expected in the capital and the inner suburbs on this occasion.
The ticket will then increase to 4 euros, a price intended to dissuade tourists from buying individually and queuing at the machines. To prevent such situations from happening, Île-de-France Mobilités will launch the “Paris 2024 pass” at 16 euros per day or 70 euros per week. But there is no question that the cost of this additional offer will be borne by Ile-de-France residents, according to IDFM, which insists on the fact that prices will not increase for more than 5 million subscribers (Navigo Annuel, Navigo Monthly, Navigo Senior, Amethyst and imagine R).
Long-awaited, the fact of being able to validate your transport tickets directly using your iPhone should (finally) become a reality at the start of 2024. Because if it is possible to pay for a ticket or your Navigo pass directly with a Android smartphone, this is still not possible with an Apple brand model. “We are working on the technical aspects, but it will be possible at the very beginning of 2024,” promised Laurent Probst, the general director of IDFM, at the end of July, welcoming in advance what will be “a first in Europe”. “We will be the first city in Europe and the largest network in the world to be present in the “wallet” tab,” he said at the time.
A novelty that goes hand in hand with the dematerialization of metro tickets. Started in mid-October 2021, with the end of the sale of cardboard ticket books, this dynamic should make it possible to reduce queues and put an end to the production of non-reusable tickets, while 28 million tickets in cardboard were still sold in booklets in 2019. Since the development of the “IDF Mobilités” application and the launch of the Navigo Easy and Navigo Liberté pass, “only 29% of tickets were still sold in magnetic books”, welcomes the authority.
