Transport in Paris
Encyclopedia
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
's many different districts and beyond.
Streets and thoroughfares
As with the birth of most agglomerations, a first network of streets was formed by the built-up areas around paths, roadways and places of trade, and a second formed when land surrounding these was divided and sold for building - in the French tradition, a plot of land was usually divided in a series of long and narrow parallel plots extending to both sides of a central lateral strip reserved for a passage across it. Very rarely was a street planned in advance.
A few exceptions aside, Paris' growth remained true to this schema (for over eight hundred years) until the mid-19th century city renovations
Haussmann's renovation of Paris
Haussmann's Renovation of Paris, or the Haussmann Plan, was a modernization program of Paris commissioned by Napoléon III and led by the Seine prefect, Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann, between 1853 and 1870...
by Baron Haussmann
Baron Haussmann
Georges-Eugène Haussmann, commonly known as Baron Haussmann , was a French civic planner whose name is associated with the rebuilding of Paris...
involved the demolition of entire quarters to make way for a network of new boulevards and avenues that make much of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
today. Many of the city's winding and narrow streets still remain, but one must search through the quarters behind the avenues to find them.
The 1970s city-limit-hugging circular Périphérique
Périphérique (Paris)
Boulevard Périphérique is a controlled-access dual-carriageway ring road in Paris, France. One of the busiest highways in Europe, the Périphérique is the generally-accepted boundary between the city proper of Paris and its suburbs...
expressway was the first real change since the above, as were narrow expressways along the quays of the Seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
river and a few inner-city underground passages. It is not the map of the streets that is changing most these days, but the streets themselves: a recent movement towards prioritising public transportation systems and eliminating "through-city" traffic has created barricaded bus/taxi/cyclist alleys, narrowing the passages reserved for automobiles and delivery vehicles. Although reducing traffic flow within the city itself, this traffic is often redistributed to the Capital's gateway thoroughfares.
Cycling in Paris
Cycling is a popular mode of transportation in Paris. The Vélib'Vélib'
' is a large-scale public bicycle sharing system in Paris, France. Launched on 15 July 2007, the system has expanded to encompass over 20,000 bicycles and 1,202 bicycle stations, located across Paris and in some surrounding municipalities...
bike hire scheme was introduced in the middle of 2007 with over 20,000 bicycles available at hire points throughout the city.
Public transportation
The horse-drawn omnibusBus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
became Paris' first form of public transportation from 1828. The horse-drawn tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
way was next to appear from 1871; as for motorised transport, steam-driven trams appeared from 1880 before being replaced by the electric tramway from 1888. The first attempt at local rail transportation appeared when the Chemin de fer de Petite Ceinture
Chemin de fer de Petite Ceinture
The Chemin de fer de Petite Ceinture was a Parisian railway that, from 1852, was a circular connection between Paris' main railroad stations within the fortified walls of the city...
was open to passengers from 1875, but was outmoded in favour of the métro
Paris Métro
The Paris Métro or Métropolitain is the rapid transit metro system in Paris, France. It has become a symbol of the city, noted for its density within the city limits and its uniform architecture influenced by Art Nouveau. The network's sixteen lines are mostly underground and run to 214 km ...
(the first porte de Vincennes-porte de Maillot line) appearing from 19 July 1900. From 1905 the tramway began to disappear in favour of the motor-driven bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
, but the tram has begun very recently to make a reappearance around Paris. For a more complete history of Paris' various forms of public transport, please see Paris Public Transport.
The Metro and Tramway, most of the Bus and a few sections of the RER are run by the RATP (Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens), the government-subsidised company whose jurisdiction covers all transport touching the Parisian Capital. The rest of the RER
RER
The RER is a rapid transit system in France serving Paris and its suburbs. The RER is an integration of a modern city-centre underground rail and a pre-existing set of commuter rail lines. It has several connections with the Paris Métro within the city of Paris. Within the city, the RER...
, as well as the Transilien
Transilien
The Transilien is the brand name for suburban railway services of the SNCF-owned railway network operating within the Île-de-France région...
, are run by the SNCF
SNCF
The SNCF , is France's national state-owned railway company. SNCF operates the country's national rail services, including the TGV, France's high-speed rail network...
(Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français), the state-owned train company whose rail network covers all of France.
Métro
One hundred years after its initiation, Paris's métroParis Métro
The Paris Métro or Métropolitain is the rapid transit metro system in Paris, France. It has become a symbol of the city, noted for its density within the city limits and its uniform architecture influenced by Art Nouveau. The network's sixteen lines are mostly underground and run to 214 km ...
has 14 lines (not including two shorter navette lines and the Montmartre funicular
Montmartre funicular
The Montmartre funicular is an automatic funicular railway serving the Montmartre neighbourhood of Paris, in the Eighteenth arrondissement. It is operated by the RATP, the Paris transport authority...
), and 12 of these penetrate well into the surrounding suburbs (as two, lines 2 and 6, form a circle within Paris). Most lines cross the city diametrically and only the above-mentioned inner-city circular lines serve as a unique lateral interconnection.
RER
The RERRER
The RER is a rapid transit system in France serving Paris and its suburbs. The RER is an integration of a modern city-centre underground rail and a pre-existing set of commuter rail lines. It has several connections with the Paris Métro within the city of Paris. Within the city, the RER...
(réseau express régional) is a network of large-calibre regional trains that run far into the suburbs of Paris, with fewer stops within the city itself. From its first line A in 1977 it has grown into a network of five lines, A, B, C, D and E: three (A, B, and D) pass through Paris' largest and most central Châtelet-Les-Halles metro station. Line C occupies the path of former railways along the Seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
's Rive Gauche quays, and the most recently-built line E leaves Paris' gare Saint-Lazare
Gare Saint-Lazare
Paris Saint-Lazare is one of the six large terminus train stations of Paris. It is the second busiest in Paris, behind the Gare du Nord, handling 274,000 passengers each day.-History:...
train station for destinations to Paris' north-east.
Transilien
These are suburban train lines connecting Paris' main stations to the suburbs not reached by the RER. The TransilienTransilien
The Transilien is the brand name for suburban railway services of the SNCF-owned railway network operating within the Île-de-France région...
lines are named as a play-on-words for the "transit" of "Franciliens," inhabitants of the "Île-de-France
Île-de-France (région)
Île-de-France is the wealthiest and most populated of the twenty-two administrative regions of France, composed mostly of the Paris metropolitan area....
" région of which Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
is the capital.
Tram
All of Paris' tramways had stopped running by 1957, but this mode of transportMode of transport
Mode of transport is a term used to distinguish substantially different ways to perform transport. The most dominant modes of transport are aviation, land transport, which includes rail, road and off-road transport, and ship transport...
has begun to return to the Parisian scenery in recent years. Beginning in 1992, two lines (the T1 and T2) were built parallel to the outer boundaries of the capital. The T3 line, opened in 2006, occupies a grassy track running alongside most of Paris' Left Bank boundary.
Bus
Paris' busBus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
lines are its most developed form of transport, interconnecting all points of the capital and its closest suburban cities. There are a total of 58 bus lines operating in Paris that have a terminus within city limits.
The capital's bus system has been given a major boost over the past decade. Beginning in early 2000, Paris' major arteries have been thinned to reserve an express lane reserved only for bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
and taxi
Taxicab
A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...
, usually designated with signs and road markings. More recently, these bus lanes have been isolated from the rest of regular circulation through low concrete barriers that form "couloirs" and prevent all other forms of Paris circulation from even temporarily entering them.
National and international rail connections
Paris's first "embarcadère" train station, the predecessor to the gare Saint-LazareGare Saint-Lazare
Paris Saint-Lazare is one of the six large terminus train stations of Paris. It is the second busiest in Paris, behind the Gare du Nord, handling 274,000 passengers each day.-History:...
, appeared from 1837 as a home for the novelty Paris-à-Saint-Germain local line. Over the next ten years France's developing rail network would give Paris five (including the Saint-Lazare station) national railway stations and two suburban lines, and from 1848 Paris would become the designated centre of an "Étoile" (star) spider-web of rail with reaches to (and through) all of France's borders. This pattern is still very visible in France's modern railway map.
As far as national and European destinations are concerned, rail transport is beginning to outdistance air travel in both travel time and efficiency. The still-developing SNCF
SNCF
The SNCF , is France's national state-owned railway company. SNCF operates the country's national rail services, including the TGV, France's high-speed rail network...
's TGV
TGV
The TGV is France's high-speed rail service, currently operated by SNCF Voyages, the long-distance rail branch of SNCF, the French national rail operator....
(Train à Grande Vitesse) network, since its birth in 1981, brings France's most southerly Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
only 3 hours from the capital. A train similar to the TGV
TGV
The TGV is France's high-speed rail service, currently operated by SNCF Voyages, the long-distance rail branch of SNCF, the French national rail operator....
, the Eurostar
Eurostar
Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between England and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel....
, has been connecting Paris to central London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
through 2h 15 of rail since 1994, and in the opposite direction, the Thalys
Thalys
Thalys is an international high-speed train operator originally built around the high-speed line between Paris and Brussels. This track is shared with Eurostar trains that go from Paris or Brussels to London via Lille and the Channel Tunnel and with French domestic TGV trains. Thalys reaches...
line connects Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
through 1h22 of rail with up to 26 departures/day, Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
in 3h18 with up to 10 departures/day, Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
in 3h14, with up to 6 departures/day .
National and international air connections
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
in the fields of Issy-les-Moulineaux
Issy-les-Moulineaux
Issy-les-Moulineaux is a commune in the southwestern suburban area of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. On 1 January 2003, Issy-les-Moulineaux became part of the Communauté d'agglomération Arc de Seine along with the other communes of Chaville, Meudon, Vanves and Ville-d'Avray...
(just to the southern limits of Paris by its Seine river's Left Bank) from the first aviation trials of 1908. Aviation became a serious mode of transport during the course of the first world war, which in 1915 led to the installation of a larger and more permanent runway installation near the town of Le Bourget
Le Bourget
Le Bourget is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.A very small part of Le Bourget airport lies on the territory of the commune of Le Bourget, which nonetheless gave its name to the airport. Most of the airport lies on the territory of the...
to the north of Paris. A yet larger airport to the south of the Capital, Orly International Airport, began welcoming flights from 1945, and yet another airport to the north of the City, Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle International Airport
Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport , also known as Roissy Airport , in the Paris area, is one of the world's principal aviation centres, as well as France's largest airport. It is named after Charles de Gaulle , leader of the Free French Forces and founder of the French Fifth Republic...
, opened its gates from 1974.
Today the former airfields of Issy-les-Moulineaux
Issy-les-Moulineaux
Issy-les-Moulineaux is a commune in the southwestern suburban area of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. On 1 January 2003, Issy-les-Moulineaux became part of the Communauté d'agglomération Arc de Seine along with the other communes of Chaville, Meudon, Vanves and Ville-d'Avray...
have become a Heliport
Heliport
A heliport is a small airport suitable only for use by helicopters. Heliports typically contain one or more helipads and may have limited facilities such as fuel, lighting, a windsock, or even hangars...
annex of Paris, and Le Bourget
Paris – Le Bourget Airport
Paris – Le Bourget Airport is an airport located in Le Bourget, Bonneuil-en-France, and Dugny, north-northeast of Paris, France. It is now used only for general aviation as well as air shows...
an airfield reserved for smaller aircraft. Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle takes the majority of international flights to and from Paris, and Orly is a host to mostly domestic and European airline companies.
Chronology of Parisian transportation
- 13th century. first mention of Charrettes and bacs.
- 14th century. Carts and trams for sovereigns and the King's court; covered litters for women nobles.
- 1405. Isabeau of BavariaIsabeau of BavariaIsabeau of Bavaria was Queen consort of France as spouse of King Charles VI of France, a member of the Valois Dynasty...
enters the Capital in Paris' first known chariot branlant (suspended buggy). - 22 October 1617. The first taxi concession for portable chairs, followed by other like concessions for chariots and carts. The chariots of the latter concession, granted by the King to a certain Nicolas Sauvage, were later called fiacres because of their habit of waiting for fares in front of one of Paris' (then few) major hotels named for the Saint Fiacre.
- 1653. New association under (with) Charles Villerme, given the privilege (by the King) of renting horse-drawn carriages. The same with Givray in 1657, and again with Catherine Henriette de BourbonCatherine Henriette de BourbonCatherine Henriette de Bourbon, Légitimée de France was an illegitimate daughter of King Henri IV and his long-term maîtresse en titre Gabrielle d'Estrées. She married into the Princely House of Guise.-Early years:...
in 1661. - 1662, January. The King distributes licence letters to the duc de Rouanès, the Mis. de Sourches et le Mis. de Crénan to circulate their rentable carriages along a fixed route - in other words, Paris' first bus system. There were five cross-town itineraries and one circular.
- 1664. Four-place horse-drawn open carriages: chaise de Crénan - served first as a city carriage, then as a rentable "taxi" carriage.
- 1671. New types of carriages appear: roulettes, brouettes et vinaigrettes. Other transports in use that year: cabriolet, modern coach, sedans, two-floor sedans (with top rack), face-to-face coaches, sedan-cut or diligance-cut (side doors) coaches, and the "désobligeante.
- 18 March 1682. Royal licence authorizing rental coaches to charge a 5 sol fee.
- 16th century. the "carrosse" (four-wheeled coach) appears early in the century, followed by the "coche" (suspended coach) around 1575–1580.
- 1780. Rental cabriolets replace hand-drawn and hand-carried chaises.
- 1790. The revolutionary government grants entrepreneurs freedom to do any business they like without restriction.
- 17th century. chaise à bras - an enclosed single seat carried either by two porters or pulled by a porter on two wheels. This mode of transport appeared because of the city's narrow and crowded streets - used at first by invalids or the ill, then later used by all.
- 1800. Police regimentation of all Parisian rental and public transport services.
- 1817. Return of control over public transport businesses: no public transportation vehicle allowed to circulate in Paris without a special permit.
- 1828. Stanislas Baudry creates several horse-drawn Omnibus bus lines. The name comes from his first such endeavour in Nantes in 1823 - one of his bus line's terminuses was at a hat-maker's shop that went under the name of, when combined with that of its owner, "Omnés Omnibus"; Omnibus means "for all" in Latin.
- 1853. Impériale omnibus invented: the first double decker buses. The upper floor was cheaper and often uncovered.
- 16 August 1853. The government authorizes the civil engineer Loubat to construct a tram system between Alma and Iena. He had already done the same in New York one year earlier (he had actually reactivated a failed 1832 tram system).
- 1854. City engineers Brame and Flachat draw a plan to connect Les Halles to the Chemin de fer de Ceinture through an underground air-propelled railway. The line would begin at La Villette and go through an open trench until the Strasbourg station, from where it would go underground to the marketplace, and the freight would be lifted to the surface with hydraulic elevators. Five kilometres long, foreseen cost nine million francs, approved by study panel, construction announced, but project abandoned.
- 1854. The 25 public transport lines cover 150 km of Parisian streets. Different lines designated by a letter system then.
- 1854, February. CGO (Compagnie generale des Omnibus) created after another concession grant. They had the right to shuttle and park their buses anywhere in Paris for a 30 year period, but this delay was later extended to 56 years (or until 30 April 1910). They also were granted the right to create two new lines serving Boulogne and Vincennes.
- 8 February 1854. Napoleon III authorizes (by decree) a tramway concession between Sèvres and Vincennes with an antenna to the rond-point de Boulogne, but the only part exploited was between the place du Concorde and porte de Vincennes.
- 1855. Creation of the Compagnie Imperiale des voitures de Paris - a merger of all existing voiture (taxi) companies.
- 1855. Faster and larger two-horse omnibuses (24 seats). Inside seats cost 30 centimes and include a transfer. A seat on the imperiale costs 15 centimes, but no transfer possible.
- 1856. Loubat returns his CGO concession to the government.
- 1866. "Voiture" (non-syndicated) taxis are once again given complete freedom - anyone with a buggy can give transport services.
- 25 February 1867. Creation of the "Bateaux-Omnibus" and "Hirondelles parisiennes" companies - replaces a paddleboat service between Port-Royal and Saint-Cloud.
- 1873. first (horse-drawn) tram line opens
- 3 September 1874. Tramway between place de l'Étoile and Courbevoie opens.
- 15 June 1875. Tramway between place de l'Étoile and La Villette.
- 1890. Paris has 300 km of public transport (divided between the (State-Owned) CGO and the Cies de tramways Nord et Sud).
- 1897-1900. Metro planned and first line built
- 1900. first motorized trams
- 19 July 1900. first metro line opens between Vincennes and Porte Maillot (line 1)
- 1905. First combustion-driven bus line along the rue de Rennes (14 km/h).
- 1906, June. First Parisian bus line opened by the C.G.O. (Compagnie Générale des Omnibus)
- 13 December 1909. Paris' first one-way streets (rues de Mogador et de la Chaussée-d'Antin).
- 1913. Last year of service for horse-drawn omnibuses (last line running: Villette-St-Sulpice) and horse-drawn tramways (last line: Pantin-Opéra).
- 1913, January. animal traction forbidden for all Parisian transport lines
- 1920, September. Creation of the STCRP (Societé des transports en commun de la région parisienne), one company to govern all surface public transport within the department de la Seine.
- 1922. First three-colour stop light at the rue de Rivoli/bd de Sébastopol crossroads.
- 1927. Busses equipped with air-filled tires.
- 14 March 1937. last day of service for last Parisian tramway.
- 15 March 1937. Tramway line between Vincennes and porte de St-Cloud closes (123/124 (PC)). .
- 14 August 1938. Last day of service for the last tram line running in the Parisian basin (between Montfermeil and Le Raincy).
- 21 March 1948. Date of law creating the "Régie autonome des transports parisiens (RATP). State-run company takes over all Parisian public transportation formerly controlled by the STCRP and la Cie du métro de Paris.
- 1960-1973. The circular boulevard périphérique expressway built.
- 1968, June. First two-floor bus (line 94) since 1911.
- 1971. Last plate-forme (open top) bus circulates. RER begins construction that year.
- 1979, May. Parisian buses equipped with Radio-telephones.
- 3 May 1983. First articulated buses enter service.
- 30 June 1992. Tramway returns with new line between préfecture de Bobigny and La Courneuve. Extended to St. Denis (gare) on 21 December.