How to transport 10 million spectators without falling into the fiasco of the Champions League final in May 2022 at the Stade de France? This is the challenge for the Olympics and Paralympics the transport organizing authority of the capital region, Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM), which revealed its plan on Sunday to avoid the disorder feared by many Ile-de-France residents.
The Olympic Games will take place from Friday July 26 to Sunday August 11, 2024. Seven million people are expected, and up to 500,000 spectators per day with peaks scheduled for July 28 and August 2. For the Paralympics, from August 28 to September 8, that’s about 3 million people.
25 sites to serve
The plan “is not trivial because there is not just one site to serve, but 25 operating at the same time”, asked the general manager of IDFM, Laurent Probst, during a meeting with the press. In Saint-Denis, around the Stade de France, peaks of 1,000 people per minute are expected “but for several hours, it’s quite unprecedented to manage”, according to Laurent Probst. In Versailles, to transport 40,000 spectators to the Royal Star for the equestrian cross-country, bus shuttles will be organized from the stations at the rate of two rotations every minute, “a military organization”, insisted Laurent Probst.
Even if the number of trains will be increased by 15%, the main issue lies in the distribution of passengers between the existing lines. “We are on a target of 100% of people coming to the Stade de France by public transport” against 60% on average usually, recalled Laurence Debrincat, director of studies and Olympic Games at IDFM.
Dedicated mobile app
Paris-2024 will therefore recommend to spectators holding tickets a preferred route to “encourage them to go and find” lines other than those taken in normal times, the Stade de France being for example served by the RER but also the metro. “To get to a site, forget how you usually go and go as you are told to do,” explained Laurence Debrincat.
IDFM is also working on an application dedicated to transport during the Olympics, and will have 5,000 agents in stations to guide travelers.