Why Paris Is Strangely Designed

Why Paris Is Strangely Designed

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Video by:
Oliver Franke
Research & Script:
Charles Street, Oliver Franke
Edit & Animations:
Oliver Franke

Full script w/ sources:

[uvejspreza]

As a former student in Paris in 2021, I was really impressed by the city transport system. Well-connected and efficient, minus the delays because at times some dude threw himself in the rails or a bag was forgotten at the train. Getting access to all modes of transportation for just 38 euros a month was an absolute bargain.

[ramon]

The Paris public transport system is honestly amazing, it's extremely useful and extensive

[barmybarmecide]

"Not enough pay for drivers but somehow enough pay for new lines" seems a little facetious, given that a lot of the money for the Grand Paris project is coming from the national, regional and city governments, plus private investors

[Figue-]

I’ve lived in Paris my entire life and I can confirm the bike lanes are great since the pandemic ! I’ve being taking the bike every work day for the past 4 years now, and since 2020 there was a real increase in quality. There are more lanes and they’re now separated from the cars and the buses. If you come to Paris, rent a bike !

[ezkymos]

6:40 Yes it's 84.10€ but French laws constrain your employer to refund at least 50% of your transport cost, so it's only 42.05€ which is far less than the cost of a car with oil and insurance

[Sebiminator]

The first time I was in Paris, I was very happy my friend ce to pick me up at the train station. The metro is a fascinating and immense labyrinth. Right now I'm for the third time in Paris and I got to admit I really enjoy the metro system here. It's efficient, you can get everywhere you need and there are coming like every 5 minutes.
But I can imagine it being quite annoying if you live here and have to constantly use it.

[timotheerochotte]

As someone who lives near Paris and uses RER and parisian subway regularly I can confidently say that the transport system is really good when the trains are on time
but I can understand why its difficult to use for tourists.
Good video

[letrouvere]

2 corrections:
all RER crosses the city except line E which has one end inside the city and the others end( it branches off) outside the city
the rer E is going to be expanded to the West, not the East

[samwalton]

Châtelet-Les Halles is unlike anything I have ever experienced. Major metro hub with a Westfield mall in the middle just to add to the confusion when you come up from the platforms and are searching for a way out 😵‍💫

[megax]

As someone who uses the RER A frequently, I would say it also depends on which part of the line (if it has multiple branches) you use. I only use the A4 (the one that goes to Disney) frequently, with occasional trips to Paris. This branch is by far the best managed and the best to use, it has the least problems compared to the branches on the west part of the line (Poissy/Cergy and SGL).
One critic I can give to the RERs is that, contrary to the metro lines, RERs (and I'm guessing Transiliens as well) have few correspondences between other lines outside of Paris itself. It leads to very complicated situations when there is maintenance happening and a station has to be shut down. Around two months ago there were maintenance work on a station called Bussy-Saint-George, which was in-between the stations Torcy and Val d'Europe. To go to Disneyland, which is right after Val d'Europe, tourists had to get off at Torcy, take one of the two buses put in place to either Val d'Europe or directly Disneyland. Another example is the station of Nation, which is the first RER A station when you enter Paris, which was closed. The only way to get to other stations in Paris was to get off at a station called Val de Fontenay two stations before and take the RER E to Paris.
So yeah, I hope we can at least have more correspondences outside of Paris and looking forwards for the Grand Paris Express.

[Geschichtsbananen]

11:03 This isn't an RER train but a German ICE (Intercity Express)

[huguesjouffrai]

I've been living in Paris for a while, using the metro, the RER, the bikes etc. + I'm very curious about these matters I found this video to be a great and accurate synthesis of the subject.

[guyphillips]

As someone who lived in Paris and London over the last couple of years, the Paris Metro was definitely better which is more and more plagued by resource problems. The Elizabeth line was a great addition, but the rest of the network desperately needs modernisation and staff (not so much drivers) are underpaid.

Weekday transport is better in Paris than London as it has an amazing commuter network and it runs until after 1am. Also, Chatelet near closing hours was a pain - ended up almost getting locked in the adjacent mall. At the weekend, London used to have an advantage with the nighttube but it’s become less and less reliable in recent years. Plus, inner Paris is so much more walkable and conducive to bikes.

From my experience in a European capital, Berlin probably has the best transport with its trams and buses included, since it’s so well integrated.

[karljones]

11:04 that's not an RER train, that's a German ICE (Intercity Express) train. Although the ICE does also have problems with punctuality.

[rogink]

I'm pleased he put that bit in about the bikes. The Paris metro is well known, and as an occasional traveller to both, I'd say it's much cleaner, more efficient and comfortable than the London underground.

London has made great strides with safe bike lanes, but we tend to go for crap like painted lines, or spend vast amounts on something the Dutch would be impressed with. Which means you mostly get nothing. Paris have gone for a compromise, so you get protection, even if it's ugly stuff like concrete barriers from road works. Which means they have gone from very little bike infrastructure to lots in a couple of years.

[artimist]

Whenever I go to Paris, I am always pleased with how generous the metro system is here. You have metros everywhere, they barely take any time to arrive and it is very easy to go where you want. The only big problem are the stations themselves. I grew up in bruxelles and here you just have to go down stairs and you directly arrive in front of the metro, and then you only have to validate. Paris is a complete maze, where everything look the exact same because of the bathroom esthetic that's going on everywhere and you never know where you're going and you barely have any indication. While I understand it is to avoid over crowding, it makes it very difficult to find the right line and make you lose time in the corridors. It is not to say that Bruxelles is better than Paris, our metro is critically underdeveloped for a city this important and entire chunks of the city are not connected, and you can wait up to 10 min for the next metro. Plus there are theoretically 6 lines, but it is really 3 lines with minor differences, and one of them is an underground tram. Like one of the line, line 2, is the exact same as line six, but shorter. That means that you have no reason to ever take the line, and you have to change metro if you want to continue on line 6. Brilliant!

[Hollandstation]

Beside the automation on only two lines and the accessibility issue, I think this is a real good transit network. The combination of the fast RER trains with the more 'local' metro network gives a fast and dense network.

[videlina]

I've been living in Paris for 2 years and if I've got into the habit, like any real Parisian, of spitting on the metro😅 (especially line 13 which is literally hell on earth during crowded hours), I realize that I couldn't do without it and that the network is really great. Public transport is generally excellent in Paris.

[esteban.r]

line 11 is fine actually. its line 13 that is a real nightmare

[shawnodonahue]

Great video and very informative. With that said, live in a major city in the United States for any length of time, and you will say that Paris is light years ahead of any city here. I've spent a lot of time using the Paris metro system and would rather use it (happily I might add) over anything in the United States.