Paris is to follow London’s example by running Métro services through the night – but initially for only one day a month.
The announcement was made by Valérie Pécresse, president of Ile-de-France Mobilités, the organisation that runs transport in the region around Paris.
Using the hashtag #ParisNeverSleep, she tweeted: “To revive going out in Paris, I have decided to break a taboo and to run transport 24/24h.”
The experiment will involve running Métro trains – and some trams in the suburbs – from Saturday morning to late on Sunday night.
The first trial is on 14 September 2019, with the activity repeated every four weeks to 7 March 2020. It will then be evaluated to see if the scheme should be made permanent.
The Métro lines are 1, 2, 5, 6, 9 and 14. Given the dense nature of lines and stations in Paris, this will enable travel to most parts of the French capital.
Line 1 is the main east-west link between La Défense in the east and Chateau de Vincennes in the west. Line 2 curves around the northern part of the city; while line 6 does the same around the south. Line 5 runs roughly north-south through the east of Paris. Line 9 meanders through the capital connecting distant suburbs to the southwest and east. The newest line, 14, roughly parallels the Seine.
The tram lines that will run form almost a complete circle around Paris.
In London, the major lines on the Underground have trains every 10 minutes through the night on Fridays and Saturdays.
The move is partly in response to calls from businesses involved in the night economy after protests by the gilets jaunts dampened the appeal of going out.
The cost is likely to run in to millions of euros every night, Ms Pécresse said.
