AMERICA,! TIME TO START MOVING by Armen Pandola
The Paris Metro system is a wonder to behold - and to ride on.
But, Parisians get around on more than the metro - there are cars, bikes, motorbikes, motor cycles, cabs and now electric scooters. And they do it on a maze of streets that go from barely one car wide to boulevards wide enough for a squad of Sherman tanks.
How do they do it?
Let's start with cars. Yes, getting around by car in Paris is not for the faint of heart. The street lights are so small that they seem meant for some toy village and there are very few signs to help. But they do one thing in pedestrian crowded areas - they moved the crosswalks off the intersection and created them about 25 feet down the road. As a result, traffic that wants to make a right-hand turn is not hindered by pedestrians crossing, resulting in massive gridlock. Here, the car makes its right-hand turn then stops, off the intersection for pedestrians who are forced to take the designated walk area because there are metal gates preventing the crossing of the street at the intersection.
Bikes and cars have always been a deadly combo. Anyone who rides a bike in a major city on a regular basis has had at least one accident. In Paris, they have figured out how to make it work with a couple of counter-intuitive measures.
First, bike lanes run in the opposite direction of car travel and, as a result, the biker can see oncoming traffic and vice a versa. But, pedestrians beware! You have to look both ways even crossing one-way streets. Where the road is wide enough - usually on two-way traffic streets - the bike lane is wider too, and for bikes going in both directions.
Next, on very wide boulevards, the two-way bike lanes are on the side-walk. That's right, on the sidewalk. Again, pedestrians beware! But, with these two simple solutions, biking in Paris is far less hazardous than in most major US cities.
Motorbikes and cycles are much more prevalent on Paris streets because they are so much more convenient than a car with the added attraction that you can park almost anywhere. While some are very loud, not so many are as in US cities - bikers here just want to get around, not noticed for their big exhaust, Why US major cities have not banned loud motorcycles is a mystery - the noise pollution they cause is horrendous. Does anyone really want loud motorcycles other than the obviously attention-starved men - yes, you know it's 99% male - who have them?
And now for the pièce de résistance - the Paris Metro. Built in the late 19th century, it spans the entire city with 16 different lines, 300 stations and 133 miles of track. While NYC's subway is much larger with 27 lines, 472 stations and 670 miles of track, its ridership is only about 20% higher than Paris' but Paris still serves about 1.5 billion riders a year.. That's because it works.
Why?
Safety first. The metro has installed glass panels at most of its stations which will slide open in conjunction with the door openings on the subway. This way, no one can accidentally be pushed off the platform. At every station, a sign tells you when the next train will arrive. Each line is designated by the name of its first and last stations. The stations are clean and well lit. Because of the several lines that intersect at major stations, a rider can go anywhere in Paris from almost each of its stations. For example, last night I went to the Seine Musicale which is located near Pont de Sèvres, the last stop on line 9. To get there, I walked 5 minutes to the metro station nearest my place which is on line 1 and went into its Hôtel de Ville station. Line 9 intersects with line 1 at station Franklin D. Roosevelt (yes, there are many streets and places named for Americans) so I got off at that stop, followed the directions (good signage in the metro) to line 9, got on it and took it to Pont de Sèvres. The trip took about 35 minutes during the evening rush hour.
The trains are all automated. The name of the upcoming station has been pre-recorded, so you have a clear, well-enunciating speaker, that automatically announces the next stop as you leave the prior station and, again, as you pull into the next station. Since the doors are controlled automatically, they won't stop closing when you touch them - so no great French Connection scene between Popeye Doyle and Frog 1. This can be hazardous if you are trying to squeeze onto a car at the last minute and most Parisians avoid trying it.
There are a few drawbacks. One is due to its success - the metro is always crowded and at peak times, the trains become packed with people. Often, riders cannot get onto a train because it is so crowded. Also, it is pickpocket heaven. Finally, due to the number of intersecting stations, you have to walk sometimes as much as 5-10 minutes to go from one line to another within the station, often up one staircase and down another.
Cost? If you buy a carnet like I did, you get 10 tickets for 14.90€ ($16.40) or you can buy passes for 3-5 days.
And finally there are the famous Parisien cabs. No, there are no more horns a la Gershwin's American in Paris. This is the most expensive way to get around. For example, the ride to or from Charles de Gaulle airport is a flat 50.00€. The cost of the train is 10.30€. But if you have any sizeable luggage, the cab is a must. Uber estimates a 39-53€ fare, but as you know, heavy traffic can multiply that quickly. Also, taxis can use the bus lanes in Paris, but Uber cannot. On my way in from CDG, I took a cab and it took over an hour even with my driver zipping by congested traffic in the bus lane.
So, Paris has learned how to get a lot of people to different places at a fairly reasonable cost. Having built its metro system over a century ago, it can now reap the rewards - while in America we are still reaping the whirlwind of our poor public transit systems in most major cities outside of NYC. It is time to bite the bullet and just do it - a major investment in high-speed trains. In our cities, let's adopt some of Paris' ideas and get people moving. It will take patience and a lot of hard work and money. But we built the national highway system, went to the moon, developed the internet, put powerful and world-reaching computers in our pockets and conquered diseases that massacred millions in our lifetime. It can be done.
But - in the current political atmosphere of 'what have you done for me today,' it's a real long shot - but we've seen long shots win, right?