Paris commuters will enjoy the first strike-free day in 2 months Thursday January 30th as the walk out by transport workers comes to a grinding halt
It’s the news everyone has been waiting for as public transport operator RATP announce a total “return to normal” across the network: the metro, RER and Transilien Thursday.
The RATP says all metro, RER trains, buses and trams will be running at 100%. For the first time since December 5, commuters will travel chaos free in the capital.
The news is particularly timely, given the RATP’s announcement earlier this week that the unending transport strike would officially be over by Wednesday January 29.
Despite that, the strike dribbled on, Wednesday as Tuesday, with minor disruptions to several metro lines and a handful of major stations closed in the afternoon due to street protests.
All that would seem to be a thing of the past. For now at least.
This after a 2 month strike over pension reform, that has crippled Paris and Greater Paris transport since December 5. While the situation on the SNCF rail started to improve from around early January, the Paris strike has dragged on, and on.
Parisians and foreign visitors can rejoice as they enjoy the first chaos-free commuter day since early December.
“Return to normal,” “The End of The Tunnel,” French media are announcing in a communal délire.
It’s all just too good to be true, as the interminable strike seems to have come, at last, to a grinding halt. “After 56 days of mess” in Paris and Greater Paris (the Île-de-France).
Paris metro platforms may soon take on an appearance of calm again, after 2 months of commuter hell, … [+]
Absolutely no disruptions to trains, trams or buses are forecast for Thursday. Unlike the past two days where despite the RATP’s optimistic previsions of a strike end, minor troubles continued.
This is then really le fin, or so it would seem. And we can take Wednesday January 29 as the last, 56th day, of the longest transport strike in France since the 1960s.
Thursday Outlook In Details
Here is the RATP run down of transport for Thursday:
- The Metro: Lines 1, 2, 3, 3bis, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7bis, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 14: Normal service. Tick.
- The suburban RER. A, B, C, D, E: Normal service. Tick.
- The other regional Paris trains Transilien. H, J, K, L, N, P, R, U: Normal service. Tick.
- Trams. Normal service on all lines. Tick.
- Bus. Normal service. Tick
And if you need to see it to believe it, check out the RATP link here, which usually leads browsers to a page listing public works and “manifestations.” The latter page– strike action–is blank. A return to normal.
Breathe deep, Paris commuters.
People hug on Paris metro platform. The Paris transport strike ends after 2 months of commuter … [+]
