RATP: It Took the 2024 Olympics for New Signage

To facilitate tourists’ navigation during the Olympic Games, a signage system costing 10 million euros is being implemented across Parisian transport.

It took the Olympic Games for the world’s most visited city to decide to make traveling easier for its tourists. We might laugh at it if the joke, which seems so obvious, hadn’t cost 10 million euros. “Fortunately,” Ile-de-France Mobilités wants to convey that the funding is fully covered by its own funds, forgetting that these come from local taxes. The budget is divided into 6.5 million euros for SNCF and 3.5 million euros for RATP.

This signage, which aligns with the aesthetic of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, was unveiled at Rosa Parks station. The presentation was attended by Valérie Pécresse, President of Île-de-France Mobilités, and the Île-de-France Region, as well as Marlène Dolveck, General Manager of SNCF Gares & Connexions and Deputy General Manager of the SNCF Group responsible for transformation, along with Camille Yvinec, Delegated Director of Visual Identity for the Paris 2024 Games. Notably absent was Paris Mayor Madame Anne Hidalgo, who appears to have distanced herself from the festivities related to the Games for the past few months.

The main goal of this new signage is to improve orientation for spectators and residents of Île-de-France, enabling them to easily access various venues of the Paris 2024 Games. Located on the RER E line, Rosa Parks station will serve key locations such as the La Chapelle Arena, for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics during the Olympics, and para-badminton and para-weightlifting during the Paralympics, as well as the Parc de la Villette, which will host the French Club and the Pavilion of Nations.

A dedicated app that is still awaited

This signage, which will be installed in around a hundred stations across Île-de-France by the time of the Paris 2024 Games in July, aims to guide spectators by informing them of the lines serving the competition sites from major transport hubs in the region. To distinguish stations and stops leading to Olympic and Paralympic venues, a unique design approach is adopted, characterized by a specific color – a distinctive pink – and the addition of “Paris 2024” to the traditional name of each station or stop.

This includes highlighting particular modifications to enhance the spectator experience, such as dedicated waiting zones, information kiosks, and the deployment of accessible services for people with reduced mobility (elevators, specialized reception areas, access to accessible shuttles provided by Île-de-France Mobilités for the Paris 2024 events, among others).

And after the Olympic Games?

Furthermore, spectator experience is enhanced by digital tools, notably the new application « Public Transport Paris 2024 » by Île-de-France Mobilités, launched in six languages and presented in spring. Its launch will be so delayed that it won’t leave enough time to fix inevitable bugs, but it will allow users to plan their trips and receive real-time traffic information for the competition venues.

For this historic edition of the Games, which aims for 100% of spectators to use public transportation to reach the events, Île-de-France Mobilités has increased its overall transport capacity by 15%, and by 25% on lines serving competition sites. This is to efficiently accommodate the additional half a million travelers expected daily during the Games.

Let’s also recall that travelers will need to pay 4 euros for each journey.

We can hope that after the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the City of Paris will try to replicate this idea with its most touristy sites. That wouldn’t be a bad idea. Same goes for maintaining the frequent service of overcrowded public transport despite delays.

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