Transport played a critical part in the success of the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, hosted in Paris, from 26 July to 11 August and 28 August to 8 September respectively. Due to the scale of the events, moving athletes, officials, media and spectators to competition venues constituted a major challenge. As part of Paris's bid for the games, officials stated that 100% of spectators would use public transport, and the compact arrangement of venues would deliver short journey times. Over €500 million was invested in improvements to transport infrastructure for the games.
A mobile app was developed to facilitate spectator travel by offering a route calculator that can adapt to hazards. To assist travellers, 5,000 agents, identifiable by purple vests, were deployed in the stations and at bus stops. Most bus lines were accessible to people with reduced mobility, but with limited capacity in cases of high demand, such as during the Paralympic Games, 1,000 taxis accessible to people in wheelchairs were made available. The vast majority of Paris Métro stations were still not accessible to all, but some 150 wheelchair-accessible shuttles were provided to transport spectators between venues and an accessible station. Security around the transport system was heavy and coordinated, but on 26 July 2024, the day of the 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, a series of arson attacks disrupted rail services.
A stated goal of Paris 2024 was to halve the carbon footprint of the Olympic and Paralympic Games compared with London 2012 and Rio 2016. The organisers estimated that more than a third of the greenhouse gas emissions linked to the games would be from the transport of athletes and spectators. To meet this goal, all venues were made accessible by bicycle and public transport. Public transport was extended and improved, and services increased. Some of cycle paths were created, linking major venues, with 27,000 temporary bicycle racks installed. The goal of halving carbon emissions was ultimately met, with an estimated 1.59 million tonnes of equivalent, which represented a 54.6% reduction compared to the London and Rio average. Of this, 53% of the carbon footprint (about 833,600 tonnes of equivalent) was incurred by visitors travelling to the games.
Background Paris was formally announced as the host city for the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics at an International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting in Lima, Peru, on 13 September 2017, although it had been a near certainty since 11 July, when rival Los Angeles elected to bid for 2028 instead. The games were hosted from 26 July to 11 August (Summer Olympics) and 28 August to 8 September (Paralympics). To host the games, organisers must provide transport for a wide range of groups – including athletes and officials, media and spectators. The IOC consider transport as being "critical to the success of the games", with some previous games (such as Atlanta 1996) marred by transport issues.
As part of their bid for the games, Paris claimed that they had "the world's best public transport system", proposing that spectators would use free public transport, and that the compact arrangement of venues would deliver short journey times for athletes and officials, media and spectators. A stated goal of Paris 2024 was to halve the carbon footprint of the Olympic and Paralympic Games compared with London 2012 and Rio 2016. The average carbon footprint for these games was 3.5 million tonnes of equivalent from both direct and indirect effects, such as spectator travel. Transport was an important component of this. To reduce the contribution of transport, all venues would be accessible by bicycle and public transport, and the transport fleet would include hybrid vehicles and hydrogen-powered buses.
In the Paris region, public transport is managed by Île-de-France Mobilités, which coordinates the contracts with transport companies such as RATP (the operator of the Paris Métro and some Réseau Express Régional (RER) lines) and SNCF (the French national railway operator). It became an official partner of the games in June 2022 to facilitate the organisation of transport. The majority of event sites were in the Paris area: 25 sites (13 in Paris and 12 in the suburbs) with 50 sessions per day for the Olympics and 17 sites (10 in Paris and 7 in the suburbs) with 18 sessions per day for the Paralympics, for 767 and 261 sessions respectively, including the two opening and closing ceremonies. These events involved 500,000 spectators per day for the Olympic Games and 300,000 for the Paralympic Games. A February 2023 fact-finding mission of the National Assembly reported that "France's success in organising the games will be judged in particular by its ability to manage the movement of people", with no fewer than 600,000 spectators, 35% of whom come from abroad, and 200,000 accredited persons having to be transported daily.
A Strategic Mobility Committee was established in October 2023 by Minister for Transport, Clément Beaune; Minister for Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra; and Minister for People with Disabilities, Geneviève Darrieussecq. It was tasked with discussing "all transport issues for the Olympic and Paralympic Games" to ensure "the continuity and fluidity of routes, for all types of passengers, from one end of their journey to the other, accredited members, visitors to the games and everyday users." It was expected to meet every six weeks, but did not meet for the first time until December 2022, and a national mobility coordinator for the Olympic Games, Florent Bardon, was not appointed until 8 December. Bardon was the director of finance and investment programming at Gares and Connexions, a subsidiary of SNCF. Le Monde described him as the "Mr Transport" of the games.
The COVID-19 pandemic delayed work on construction sites and disrupted the transport networks, forcing a halt in recruitment, numerous resignations and increased absenteeism, which led to a significant deterioration in service by late 2022, with a quarter of the bus services not running. The effects persisted into 2024, and by early the next year nearly 10% of the RATP bus network services were not running, and only 84% of the RER C trains were on time, mainly due to the shortage of drivers at SNCF despite the resumption of driver training. In December 2023, five Métro lines (2, 3, 6, 8 and 13) still had service levels below 90%, far below the previous standard of most lines.
Preparations
Over €500 million was invested in improvements to transport infrastructure for the games. The objective of the Paris Organising Committee for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games (COJOP) was to allow 100% of spectators to reach the Olympic and Paralympic sites by public transport.
Engineering or improvement works in Paris are normally scheduled for the summer, resulting in service interruptions, but no works were scheduled for the summer of 2024. Construction work was "frozen" on the network from July until the end of September. Consequently, there were numerous disruptions to services in 2023 and the first half of 2024, especially on Line 14 with significant traffic interruptions over several weekends and during school holidays..
To meet the increased number of passengers on the lines compared to a normal summer, the frequency, and hours of service for public transport was increased by an average of 15%. This was concentrated in the heart of the city and particularly affected the lines serving Olympic sites such as the RER B and RER D, tramway Line T11 and Paris Métro Line 14, which were augmented by shuttle buses. During the games, visitors to Paris paid higher public transport fares to recover some of the cost of this increased level of service.
A mobile application was developed to facilitate spectator travel by offering a route calculator that could respond to delays and guide travellers onto alternative services to reduce congestion. To assist travellers, 5,000 agents, identifiable by purple vests, were deployed in the stations and at the bus stops, where special signage was affixed. Venues of the games were indicated on line maps on trains and in stations in distinctive pink.
Security Security for the Paris region transport network was coordinated by the Paris Police Prefecture, which became solely responsible for security and public order in the Île-de-France region under the Olympic law of 19 May 2023. This law broadened the scope of video surveillance images visible to SNCF and RATP agents in the Paris region transport security coordination centre.
Commencing in mid-2022, and for the duration of the games, transport security coordination was carried out from the Operational Security Command Center (CCOS), which brought together all stakeholders (including the police of the regional transport department, gendarmes and the security services of transport operators such as RATP, SNCF and Optile) in shared premises located at the Paris Police Prefecture headquarters. The CCOS was connected to 101,000 video surveillance cameras located throughout the various transport networks. During the Olympic Games, police patrols increased from 125 to 700 per day, with the number of transport police officers increased from 1,100 to 1,300. In addition to the 3,000 permanent security agents, another 5,000 temporary agents and more than 50 canine explosives detection units were deployed on the transport network to intervene when abandoned objects were discovered.
Accessibility
In 2023, concerns were raised regarding accessibility for the games. Lobbying group APF France Handicap said that the Paris Métro was a "big black spot on the city's Paralympic legacy". Organisers anticipated that 350,000 fans with disabilities would be visiting Paris.
The entire tramway network was accessible, as were the majority of Transilien stations. Most bus lines were accessible to people with reduced mobility, with Paris spending €25 million to upgrade bus stops and train staff on accessibility. Over 1,000 taxis accessible to people in wheelchairs were delivered prior to the games. Wheelchair-accessible shuttle buses were provided to transport spectators between venues and an accessible station, with increased service during the Paralympic Games.
The vast majority of Métro stations were not accessible to all. There are multiple obstacles to providing accessible ramps and elevators in Métro stations: much of the infrastructure is old, some stations are classified under architectural heritage rules, and there are technical difficulties with some stations. The twenty stations on Line 14 (which first opened in 1998) are fully accessible, and extensions of lines since 1992 have included elevators.
Prior to the Paralympic Games, the Île-de-France regional president, Valérie Pécresse, announced a plan to make the Métro accessible. Île-de-France Mobilités noted that this work would take around 20 years and cost between €15 and 20 billion. International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons welcomed the commitment, specifically mentioning it during his speech at the Paralympics closing ceremony.
Public transport passes
At the time of Paris's bid to host the Olympic Games, it was proposed that free public transport would be provided for ticket holders to attend the events, similar to London 2012. Following the surge in inflation in 2022, Paris 2024 dropped this proposal when their budget was revised. Île-de-France Mobilités stated that it would not give free passes to ticket holders, so Parisian commuters would not be subsidising visitors. To cover the cost of the increased services offered during the games, visitors to Paris had to pay higher fares.