Before the Senate’s regional planning committee, Jean Castex unveiled his objectives for the RATP. The former Prime Minister, tipped to lead the public establishment, wants to focus on “the core business” of the Régie in Ile-de-France, he said Tuesday during his oral.
Human resources are according to him “the first subject that is on the table”, while the RATP is struggling to circulate buses and metros correctly for lack of drivers, and a strike promises to be massively followed on Thursday. “My priority of priorities is the core business, and the core business is meeting the expectations of users”, he underlined, citing punctuality, regularity, cleanliness, safety, fight against fraud, the quality of information given to travelers and the modernization of ticketing.
Fight against absenteeism
He gives himself three weeks to establish a “shared diagnosis” and “find additional tools” aimed at combating absenteeism and accelerating recruitment, with a “issue of quality of life at work”. The former Prime Minister intends in particular to increase the human presence in contact with travelers, and “to humanize (the) service as much as possible”.
“The diversification of activities is important, it makes sense, but in no way should it divert us from our primary and fundamental mission”, he remarked, while the RATP has multiplied the subsidiaries and won calls for offers around the world in recent years.
Its motto: “listening, consultation, proximity”
The credo of the former Prime Minister will be “listening, consultation, proximity”, also noted Jean Castex. He intends in particular to make “a very precise inventory of what works, what does not work” with Ile-de-France Mobilités, the regional transport authority chaired by Valérie Pécresse.
Among the “difficulties” awaiting the future CEO of the RATP, proposed by Emmanuel Macron, Jean Castex cited the soaring electricity bill. “It’s not meant to discourage me. It pisses me off,” he said.
Steps still to be taken in front of the two chambers
Moreover, to the senators who were surprised to see him again “only 104 days” after having interviewed him with a view to his appointment to the presidency of the Agency for the financing of transport infrastructures in France (Afit) – which he occupies since August 18 – Jean Castex replied that the post of RATP boss was then “not vacant”, the outgoing CEO Catherine Guillouard having announced her decision on September 1.
Jean Castex must still be heard this Wednesday morning by the National Assembly’s Sustainable Development Committee. The members of the two committees in the Senate and the Assembly must decide on his candidacy, which they can reject with a three-fifths majority.