We're mobilised

• Recruitment 

We have been facing challenges in hiring for driving and maintenance positions in a tense job market, and have been dealing with higher absenteeism and an increase in resignations amidst rising inflation and tougher competition.

To tackle these challenges, we have been deploying significant efforts to hire and train new drivers. 1,500 bus drivers and 180 metro drivers were already hired in 2022. In 2022, 13 additional training courses were conducted for metro drivers, including night course sessions from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m.

In 2023, we expect to hire more than 4,500 new employees at RATP. 

To meet these recruitment requirements, we have been intensifying our sourcing and communication efforts with related mass communication campaigns, job dating and employment forums, among other measures. We have also been facilitating access to work-study schemes and on-the-job learning to broaden talent pools, and have lowered the minimum age of bus drivers from 21 to 18 years. At the same time, we have developed partnerships with Pôle emploi (French job seekers’ office) agencies, set up sponsorship/co-opting initiatives for new hires, and enhanced our training resources.
View our job offers here.

@leparisienWe went to the school for Paris metro drivers and entered their huge life-size simulator#metro#paris#ratp#iledefrance♬ original sound – Le Parisien

• Additional backup for train maintenance

Due to the shortage of maintenance personnel, there is a corresponding unavailability of rolling stock, as is notably the case on metro lines     and . To compensate for these inconveniences, and in addition to our recruitment drive, we intend to give priority to staff and maintenance activities on the lines in question. Furthermore, we have built up our resources, increased maintenance activities on Saturdays and hired temporary staff.

• Improvement of the social climate and working conditions

Two agreements were recently signed with labour union organisations, proof of renewed social dialogue.
The first agreement, which was reached in early January 2023, modifies bus and tram drivers’ work schedules and hours.
In addition, mandatory annual negotiations were moved forward by two months to meet the strong expectations of employees with the lowest salaries, and raise salaries for professions experiencing shortages.
These are two of the key components in the company’s action plan aiming to restore production levels and service quality as quickly as possible for the benefit of passengers.
In the meantime, efforts are underway to offer more social housing to new hires or employees in financial distress, to keep their commutes as short as possible between their homes and jobs.

• Reduced response times for suspicious packages

As traffic frequency goes back up, passenger incidents have increased accordingly. There have been 4 times as many incidents of unattended objects recorded since 2019, a factor that makes service suspensions more frequent. For better efficiency when such incidents occur, we have started to introduce more sniffer dog teams consisting of trained dogs and their handlers, to shorten the response times when unattended objects are reported. Additionally, the northern branches of metro lines    and   will be equipped with track barriers to restrict unauthorised entry into tunnels. Currently, we are looking into the feasibility of setting up an emergency service à Gare du Nord and Châtelet stations to respond more quickly when passenger health issues occur, so that traffic can recover more quickly.

• Mobilised teams

Also, major upgrading and extension works are being conducted on several metro lines such as    and , while metro line   is receiving new equipment. As a result, this translates to more staff being mobilised for these projects and increased load planning, leading to staff unavailability on other lines. Due to these works, affected lines will also be closed earlier in the evenings. Metro line   is scheduled to be fully automated by the end of 2023. The extension of metro line   is expected to start running by the end of 2023. The north and south extensions of metro line   will start service in 2024. In the long run, these works will allow millions of passengers to travel more smoothly on a daily basis.
Find out more by referring to the pages dedicated to the various line closures on metro line 4,  metro line 11 and metro line 14.

Lines facing issues will benefit from specific plans aiming for service to go back to normal as quickly as possible.

Metro line 12
86% of scheduled trains were running in late December 2022. In the short term, several measures have been implemented to increase the service offering: drivers who complete their training are assigned to this line as a priority. Furthermore, new employees are set to join its maintenance workshop as we study the possibility of creating a night maintenance team to carry out preventive maintenance. The objective is to return to normal service frequency as from 1 April 2023.
In the medium term, new rolling stock will replace current trains by 2026-2030. The goal is to provide passengers with more comfort and trains that are more environmentally friendly.

Metro line 8
To increase the service offering as quickly as possible, drivers who complete their training are assigned to this line as a priority, as is the case for metro line 12. Another issue is the age of the trains in operation. In the short term, the MF77 rolling stock is set to be upgraded and the number of trains in reserve to be increased. The return to normal should be achieved as from 1 March 2023.
In the medium term, the trains will be replaced with new MF19 rolling stock, which are more comfortable and environmentally friendly, by 2026-2030.

RER line B
In 2022, only 85.7% of scheduled trains were operated. In the short and medium term, our actions plan notably sets to upgrade the displays at 31 RER stations to improve passenger information. In addition, to facilitate traffic resuming in the event of incidents related to unattended luggage, K-9 units will be permanently deployed on the platforms of Gare du Nord, Châtelet, and Charles-de-Gaulle airport stations. As regards maintenance, our current efforts focus on improving rolling stock maintenance and increasing repair resources at the Mitry maintenance workshop.
To respond to the growing number of passengers on this line, Île-de-France Mobilités ordered new generation trains with more capacity and enhanced comfort. The new trains are set to be commissioned by the end of the year 2025.

Regarding other lines
The situation has already improved since the beginning of 2023. In practice, 96% of the frequency requested was reached.
Thanks to all these actions and our teams’ strong commitment, the return to normal traffic should be effective as from:
> 1 March 2023 on metro line  .
> 1 April 2023 on metro lines       .

Since the beginning of 2023, 85% of buses (ordered by Île-de-France Mobilités) are running, which corresponds to a 10-point increase since the autumn of 2022. The situation has already improved. In practice, 9 out of 10 buses have been in operation since the beginning of 2023. We are sparing no efforts in recruiting bus drivers. In 2023, RATP plans to recruit 2,500 bus drivers. Click here to see our job offers.

This page will be regularly updated in light of the changes and improvements occurring on the network.