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Paris Metro with lifts

Do any Paris Metros in 5th or 6th arr have lifts?

Posted by
1007 posts

I am sorry that I cannot answer your question directly. But I have pasted links to the Paris transportation website that provides more information on accessibility/elevators/escalators for Paris metro stations.

https://www.ratp.fr/en/visite-paris/english/services-available-our-metro-and-rer-stations

https://www.ratp.fr/en/accessibility/network-accessibility

https://www.ratp.fr/en/services-aux-voyageurs/services-aux-voyageurs/station-services/status-elevators-and-escalators

Posted by
2670 posts

No.

There are some stations with escalators and the Luxembourg RER B station now has an elevator but if there are mobility concerns, the métro is not a solution.

Posted by
8463 posts

If this is an issue basically use other transport. I just this week took my 70 year plus self down a series of incredibly long flights of stairs going from Cluny to St. Michel -- there are escalators for this Moscow Subway level drop -- but they were not working. There are very few elevators in the entire system except on line 14 and I think 1 -- other than that the main elevatored lines are the very deep ones like Lamarck Caulaincourt and Cite -- I have arrived and found them out of order to -- we are talking hundreds of steps here.

The metro is great but stairs are baked in. If you have mobility issues use a cane as a signal you need a seat and use the buses. (the buses have relatively few seats and the trams are even worse, so basically most times only elderly or disabled people are seated. If you need a seat, a cane will be helpful.

Posted by
195 posts

Does France not have laws which compel the government or companies to provide access for those with disabilities? I never would have thought that there were no elevators in the Metro system.

Posted by
1320 posts

The Metro stations are very old and accessibility laws in much of Europe are few and far between.
Even if there is an escalator or lift in a station you might have to walk a long ways with interior stairs up and over train lines.
I was once meeting people at Abbeses and the lift was broken. I walked up 90 steps -- I counted them!
I find myself using buses more frequently now when in Paris.

Posted by
7269 posts

@Adrienne: French accessibility laws set no deadline for compliance... so the pace of accessibility works is extremely slow on the RER, and for the Metro, the operator believes that the buses are an adequate substitute. The age of the system is not an excuse, the situation is quite shameful - and the works would be the opportunity to close some unnecessary stations too. Anyway, end of rant.

Posted by
2670 posts

The bus network is very comprehensive and almost all, if not all buses have been equipped with special ramps to assist those in wheelchairs.

There is also the PAM75 network providing transportation to residents with mobility issues.

Posted by
4684 posts

There are over 300 Metro stations, and the cost of fitting every one of them for step-free access would be completely impossible. We have the same problem in London.

Posted by
5697 posts

When we were in Paris this April there seemed to be a number of stations on the Right Bank undergoing renovations -- one can only hope that this included escalator/ elevator additions.

Posted by
3910 posts

One can hope, but as my former boss used to say, hope is not a strategy.

Posted by
14604 posts

"One can hope, but as my former boss used to say, hope is not a strategy."

JHK...not particularly in relation to this thread but I love this remark! So very apt.

Posted by
5697 posts

And while I'm hoping, I also plan to get a bus map, particularly for trips with baggage.

Posted by
8463 posts

The thing is even if a station has an escalator at a particular steep stretch or near the exit, there are almost never escalators on the stairs required to change lines. we went to Belleville for the open art atelier event today and then to Montmartre to meet a friend for dinner and then back to the 13th. We climbed at least 20 sets of stairs in this process, some of them very very steep and long. And if station X is accessible, it doesn't mean that the stations you change to will be. Metro=stairs. If you can't do stairs, you need to use the buses.

of course Belleville is the steepest part of Paris and then Montmartre, the second steepest -- so my fitbit went a bit nuts today crediting me with 54 stair cases no doubt capturing hills here and there. (some of the artist ateliers were on 3rd or 4th floors of walk up buildings.)