Activity report and Annual report

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“Our mission is to serve you daily, and our imperative is to provide our passengers with the best service possible.”

2023 highlights

Paris 2024, moving ahead to the Games

The Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 will be one of the most significant sporting events in the world. RATP Group is a strategic partner as an Official Supporter of the Games. With 70% of journeys to competition venues set to be made on RATP-operated lines, the company is committed to ensuring that its service rises to the importance of the occasion.

The core challenge lies in welcoming and efficiently carrying spectators to the various competition venues. During the Games, up to 1.5 million additional passengers daily are expected on the public transport networks. This is why metro line 14 plays a particularly important role. Extensions to the line, which are set to be completed in time for the Games, will connect Saint-Denis Pleyel station, serving a major competition venue to the north of Paris, to Orly Airport in the south, in only 40 minutes.

Commuter Games
The approximately 20,000 front-line staff members to be deployed for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 reflect the depth of RATP’s commitment. On competition days, 250 additional drivers will be deployed, highlighting their role as essential workers. External recruitment drives have been scheduled to fill 120 bus driver vacancies in 2024. As RATP teams eagerly await the Games, over 2,000 employees have volunteered their assistance to back up front-line staff. The goal is to mobilise 3,000 volunteer employees in time for the Games. These helpers will be present in metro and RER stations to guide visitors.

Strength in unity
900 buses have to be parked and maintained at a single site in the Seine-Saint-Denis department to provide transport for approximately 200,000 accredited officials. This is the scale of the joint mission entrusted to RATP Cap Île-de-France, and RATP Real Estate, an RATP Solutions Ville subsidiary. Both subsidiaries were awarded the dedicated contract following Île-de-France Mobilités’ call for tenders, in recognition of their respective fields of expertise.

Improving our service quality

“As part of our aim to improve our transport service and efficiently train metro drivers, we have innovatively conducted the initial training sessions on driving simulators during the night.”

A company’s ability to brave and resolve crises is proof of its resilience. A large part of that resilience stems from team commitment and determination. 2023 was a year that tested RATP’s resolve. Numerous factors negatively affected passengers in the Île-de-France region: shortage of drivers and maintenance operators in a tense labour market, higher absenteeism similar to what is seen across France, breakdowns on ageing rolling stock, and more frequent reports of unattended items on networks. The Group’s priority is to restore service quality and regain passenger trust.

To accomplish these goals, the Group has implemented action plans in various areas. These action plans include extensive recruitment and training drives in professions facing recruitment difficulties, programmes to combat absenteeism, more efficient maintenance of rolling stock and equipment, continued investment under the direction of Île-de-France Mobilités to upgrade the network and rolling stock, and improved station accessibility. Our mobilisation has reaped its rewards, by producing several promising early results.

Ensuring frequency
In a technological feat that was accomplished in December, the full automation of metro line 4 reflects the Group’s ability to upgrade a network that has been running for over a century. Metro line 4 operations have been optimised to offer greater flexibility, frequency, punctuality, and passenger safety, through new systems and rolling stock, renovated platforms, and the installation of platform doors. These screen doors make stations safer by creating a barrier between passengers and tracks.

Guaranteeing equipment availability
Since the deployment of the Serval tool as part of RATP’s predictive maintenance programme, 800 incidents have been both processed and avoided on metro lines 1 and 14, and 30% of RER line A breakdowns were anticipated. The programme, which analyses data gathered from on-board systems, has produced encouraging results. By putting these methods to the test every day, they improve equipment reliability and availability, and ultimately, the quality of the service provided to passengers.

Travelling safer
Over 50,000 video surveillance cameras are currently installed across the RATP network. They serve as an essential aid to the 1,000 network security and protection (Groupe de protection et de sécurisation du réseau) officers deployed in stations and on board vehicles.

Accelerating cities’ ecological and social transition

“In light of the current climate emergency, companies have a major role to play in the ecological transition, by identifying sustainable models through efficient resource management. This is even more the case for a public service and public transport corporation such as ours.”

Public transport benefits cities in many undeniable ways, notably by reducing road congestion, achieving carbon neutrality and combating urban air pollution. From an environmental perspective, public transport leaves a lighter carbon footprint than individual car use, and equally benefits society. The very existence of a public transport network facilitates the opening of certain regions, thereby increasing their attractiveness.

The Group takes these benefits even further, by leveraging the opportunities presented by its various activities to promote better city living. Group initiatives include measures to improve air quality by converting bus fleets and bus depots to sustainable energy sources, diversify the use of the Group’s industrial properties, build social housing and public facilities in city centres, plant greenery in stations, and reuse mine water. The Group’s activities therefore come together to benefit regions, and advance their ecological and social transition.

Converting buses to electricity and biogas
Five bus depots have completed their transition to electricity and biogas in 2023. They will add to the nine depots that have already been converted (to electricity or biogas) under the joint Bus2025 programme led with Île-de-France Mobilités. The operation, which presented an industrial, technical, and ecological challenge, will make it possible to convert 25 diesel bus depots to electricity or biogas by 2025. By the end of the operation, these depots are set to accommodate a decarbonised fleet of over 4,700 buses, without causing disruptions to passenger service.
The Bus2025 project is supported by the European Commission to a maximum of €54.7 million in subsidies, as well as by a bond loan for an equivalent amount underwritten by the Banque des Territoires (Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations).

Combining urban occupation
In September, the Ateliers Vaugirard (Paris’ 15^th arrondissement) maintenance centre project entered a new phase following the completion of its first lot of 104 social housing units. Upon completion, the project, which was launched during the upgrade of the industrial site that receives metro line 12 trains, will create a new neighbourhood that combines industrial activity with housing, public facilities, and green spaces over a total surface area of 10,000 square metres. This is one way to optimise city space while benefiting residents.

Attracting a diverse talent pool

“As global attitudes towards work have shifted, we are adapting with the times to accommodate and meet our employees’ needs.”

Recruitment was a crucial issue for the Group in 2023, amid an environment of insufficient service productivity. The company rolled out a mass recruitment drive, and deployed all possible means to ensure its success.

Faced with a complex challenge, the Group has had to work around structural trends in the labour market, such as difficulty hiring in certain professions, and shifting employee expectations. RATP Group was able to rely on its ability to attract new talent through a broad spectrum of professions, strong public interest values, and its recognised commitment to creating more pleasant and more sustainable cities. These qualities, which were promoted through targeted campaigns, have allowed the Group to meet its hiring goals using innovative methods. This mobilisation, combined with enhanced training schemes, has ensured the quick deployment of operational staff.

Inclusiveness, diversity, and integration
The Group is committed to supporting the workforce integration and employment of young adults, and in 2023, it set a new goal to hire 1,000 work-study trainees. Notably, 850 such vacancies were offered at the Group’s sustainable urban mobility apprenticeship centre. The company also has a long-standing commitment to facilitating the employment of people with disabilities, and signed its ninth agreement with social partners, prioritising measures to educate managers on how to accommodate employees with disabilities.

Supporting regional transformation and development

“One of RATP Dev’s goals is to be the benchmark transport and maintenance operator in global cities such as Paris.”

While expanding urban areas are building the latest-generation transport systems, the multi-modal network operated across the Île-de-France region remains one of the densest and most comprehensive in the world. Despite the difficulties that the network encountered in 2023, it remains a model in urban transport, notably in automated metro systems, a field in which the Group is a recognised leader.

This is the expertise and engineering prowess that the Group deploys in urban areas across the globe, working together with regional authorities to develop solutions that closely fit their needs, and assisting them through their transition to sustainable models.

Powerful international presence
RATP Dev has set its sights on expanding and sharing its expertise in urban rail and automated metro systems. As of 2026, the subsidiary is set to operate and maintain the automated Sydney Metro-Western Sydney Airport metro line for a 15-year period, as part of the Parklife Metro consortium. RATP Dev will also advise the city of Belgrade on the operation of its future automated metro network. Three lines are set to be built by 2028. The Group has also established a presence in the Middle East: the imminent inauguration of two automated metro lines in Riyadh this year, support during the implementation of the AlUla mobility plan, and 84 kilometres of metro and tram lines managed in Doha (through RKH Qitarat, under partnership with Keolis). On the African continent, the Group is present notably in Egypt (recent extensions to line 3 on the Cairo metro network, and LRT line connecting the new capital).

A trusted partner
Numerous regions have chosen RATP Group to advise them on the development and management of their mobility service offerings. The Annemasse urban area, which RATP Dev has advised since the subsidiary’s beginnings 20 years ago, has reiterated its trust by signing a new seven-year contract. In La Roche-sur-Yon, the 14-year partnership has been extended for 10 additional years. Similarly, the Laon urban community has renewed its contract with subsidiary CTPL until 2029.

A Group committed to improving challenging conditions, and restoring financial stability

“With 7.2% in revenue growth, and stable debt despite a historic level of investment amid soaring inflation that negatively affected operating income, RATP Group demonstrated its dynamism and resilience in 2023. By continuing our efforts to improve transport service productivity, combat absenteeism, optimise our production costs, and resolve problematic situations in certain contracts, we will have what it takes to significantly restore our earnings in 2024.”

RATP Group’s consolidated revenue surged in 2023, representing 7.2% in growth, which was buoyed by the recovery of transport services, the expansion of subsidiaries in France, the Middle East, and the United States of America, and transport authority contributions pegged to inflation. In 2023, the Group generated €6.5 billion in revenue. Similar to 2022, however, the Group’s earnings were adversely affected by several factors, notably the impact of inflation on operating expenses, which led to a sharp increase in electricity prices that contract price indices insufficiently took into account. In addition, high levels of sick-leave absenteeism continued to plague the efficiency of the transport offer, while further burdening the RATP social protection scheme. Some subsidiaries also experienced difficulties performing certain contracts. RATP Group’s consolidated operating income fell by €87 million to €107 million in 2023, while the Group’s net share of income was -€109 million.

RATP continues to invest heavily in the Île-de-France region to upgrade, maintain, and expand its transport networks with support from Île-de-France Mobilités. In 2023, RATP crossed a major threshold with €2.4 billion in investments⁽¹⁾, 7% higher than in 2022.
_{⁽¹⁾ By including €359 million in investments on behalf of Société des grands projets (formerly known as Société du Grand Paris), as part of the metro line 14 southern extension.}