With nearly 10 million people expected to throng the streets of Paris during the Olympics this summer, visitors already knew getting around the city would be a challenge. But now it will probably be a lot more expensive, too.
The price of a single ride on the Metro between July 20 and Sept. 8, roughly the dates of the Olympics and Paralympics, is set jump to 4 euros, or about $4.40, from its current price of €2.10. A pack of 10 tickets will climb to €32 from €16.90.
In a video posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday, Valérie Pécresse, the president of the administrative region that includes Paris and its suburbs, announced the temporary fare increases for public transportation.
“For the first time in the history of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, 100 percent of spectators will be able to access all the sporting events via public transportation,” said Laurent Probst, the chief executive of Île-de-France Mobilités, the organization that oversees transportation in the Paris region. To meet the demand, he said, the system will add 15 percent more Metro and commuter rail trips during the Games, costing the agency an additional €200 million. The fare increases are an effort to recoup that cost.
The administrative council of Île-de-France Mobilités is set to vote on the proposal on Dec. 7.
The price jumps are a sharp reversal from a now-abandoned plan by the French National Olympic and Sports Committee to make public transportation free for those who hold tickets to Olympic events, as London did in 2012. The plan in Paris would have cost €45 million, said a spokesman for the 2024 organizing committee.
In her video, Ms. Pécresse sought to reassure locals that they could avoid the higher fares by either buying an unlimited monthly or yearly pass — which would be unaffected by the increase — or stocking up on rides before July 20. But anyone, local or tourist, who pays for a transit trip during the period will have to pay the new temporary fares.
Many in Paris bristled at the announcement. A column in the daily newspaper Le Monde on Tuesday described the move as “a rip-off,” calling it another hit to people’s wallets and a contradiction to the organizing committee’s claim that the Games would be “accessible” and “for the people.” In a post on X, David Belliard, Paris’s deputy mayor for transportation, warned that the increase could price out lower-income people: “Metros and buses reserved for the richest?” he wrote.
Visitors and tourists alike may still get at least one deal by buying the Paris 2024 pass, part of the proposed fare changes. That pass will cost €16 a day for unlimited rides in all five transit zones, down from €20.10 for an all-zone day pass, though a seven-day Paris 2024 pass will still be much more expensive than the current offering. Some of the Olympic events take place at venues in the suburbs, which are outside the main Metro zone. The Paris 2024 unlimited pass also includes trips to both airports.
Travelers aiming to fly in on July 26, the day of the opening ceremony, will also want to plan their arrivals carefully. The main airports will be closed that evening during the ceremony for security reasons, said Laurent Nuñez, a top Paris police official, in a news conference on Wednesday. He also announced that security perimeters would be established around venues, strictly limiting cars, including taxis.
“Of course there will be constraints,” said Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, at the news conference. “But we are going to offer Parisians an exceptional summer.”
Juliette Guéron-Gabrielle contributed reporting from Paris.
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