Olympic Games organisers are in a race against time to improve disabled access in host city Paris with just a year to go before the start of the 2024 Paralympics. The clock is also ticking on efforts to finish building the required sporting venues and facilities to accommodate some 4,500 Paralympians and their families.
Paralympic events, taking place two weeks after the Olympics, will be held in venues across the Paris region. They include high-profile sites such as the Stade de France, Roland-Garros, Champ-de-Mars, Grand Palais and Eiffel Tower, as well as smaller venues.
While organisers have sought to make Paris 2024 the "inclusive and accessible Games", providing accessible transport for the estimated 350,000 disabled commuters expected to be in the French capital for the Paralympics remains a challenge.
Building the required infrastructure isn’t the problem, says Jérôme Rousseau, who runs Novosports – a French NGO dedicated to promoting inclusive sport.
“The biggest problem is mobility: how to get around on the RER and the metro,” he told RFI, adding that the issue of accessibility is also a political one.
“Paralympians want to play sports – but how do they get to where they’re going? We welcome the Paralympic Games, but everything has to be accessible.”
"We still live in a discriminatory society (...) the State, the region, the city, have never invested as much but we are very far from the results that we expect as a user," Michael Jeremiasz, quadruple Paralympic medalist in wheelchair tennis and head of mission for Paris-2024 told a press conference on Monday.
No-go metro
Most Paris metro stations are not accessible for people with mobility issues, who are forced to endure longer waiting times by using the city’s bus fleet, which is less reliable and dependent on busy traffic conditions.
The Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games agrees that public transport infrastructure will be insufficient to meet the needs of visitors with disabilities throughout the wider Paris region.
To make up for the shortfall, it says shuttle buses will be made available to transport people between the major Parisian stations and the various Paralympic venues.
The government has also promised to increase the number of wheelchair-friendly taxis from 200 to 1,000. Parking and drop-off areas near to competition venues will be reserved for people with disabilities.
Transport authority Île-de-France Mobilités has made assurances that work is being done to improve the situation – measures such as better signage, sound beacons, guidance strips on footpaths – with all SNCF train platforms in greater Paris to be accessible by 2025.
"One hundred percent of the tram lines and the RER A and B are already there and, by January 2024, this will include all the bus lines in the region," authority vice-president Grégoire de Lasteyrie told France 24.
"It’s more complex for the metro. The network is a century old and some stations are impossible to change.”
However by 2024, he says, 18 stations will be accessible. This represents a mere 5 percent of the total metropolitan network.
Culture shock
Andrew Parsons, President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is already talking about "spectacular" Games.
"It is important that the change does not stop after the closing ceremony," Parsons told French news agency AFP. "There is no event on this planet that can solve all the problems, but it will be a catalyst", he says.
The mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo expects a "culture shock" which will allow progress.
The Paris Olympics 2024 are held from 26 July-11 August, followed by the Paralympics from 28 August-8 September.
