In a statement on Tuesday, the president of the French capital region announced that ticket prices for the Paris metro will nearly double during the 2024 Olympics. She assured residents with passes that they would be protected from the temporary increase, while visitors would be charged what she described as “a fair price”.
Last week, the mayor of Paris had cautioned that public transportation services, which are managed by the regional authority, would not be sufficient during the events. The Olympics are scheduled to take place from July 26 to Aug. 11, followed by the Paralympics from Aug. 28 to Sept 8.
“During the Olympics and the Paralympics, the Ile de France region will dramatically increase its transport offer. It is out of question that the residents support that cost,” the region’s president Valerie Pecresse said on social media.
“We’re going to create a new pass, the Paris 2024 pass, that will allow visitors to travel through the whole Ile de France region. It will cost 16 euros a day, and up to 70 euros a week. It is the fair price,” Pecresse stated in a video.
She mentioned that a metro ticket will cost 4 euros ($4.38) for the period from July 20 to Sept. 8, and clarified that residents of the region with a usual monthly or yearly pass will not be impacted.
She also noted that a monthly pass normally costs 84.10 euros.
($1 = 0.9135 euros)
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Alexander Smith)
