THE WORLD'S BIGGEST MUSEUM
Hello, I suggest we go and breathe in some Paris air.
Today, I'm going to tell you the story of the Paris Metro.
The story begins in July 1900.
We're at Abbesses Station, one of Paris's finest,
close to Montmartre. Off we go!
THE PARISIANS' METRO
So, I'm here with Grégoire Thonnat. Hi, Grégoire.
Grégoire is a history enthusiast.
Editions Telemac has published his book,
A Short History of the Paris Metro Ticket.
It's incredible. You might think he's crazy to write a book on this subject.
No! He's not crazy.
It's fascinating. Let's get started, as there are so many great anecdotes.
Firstly, the story of the Parisian Metro starts in July 1900.
On July 19, 1900 at 1PM the first line opened,
AUTHOR
which ran from Porte Maillot to Porte de Vincennes.
That's Line 1. - It's still Line 1, the busiest line.
I imagine Parisians were astounded back then.
Not exactly as, at first, they were afraid because it's underground
and the media warned them not to go down there as the air is toxic.
So, it was opened on the sly.
But quickly, from the first day and the first weeks and months,
it's a success and nobody ever refutes that.
Until the early 80s, which we'll discuss later, it's a success from the word go.
The first big accident in the Metro is in 1903 at Couronnes Station.
Three years after the first line is opened, there's a tragedy.
There's a fire in the Metro that leaves over 80 people dead.
As the story goes, the chief conductor evacuated the carriage,
saying: "It's dangerous, get off the train."
People can smell something is wrong and he asks them to leave the station.
Some people refuse, saying:
"We've paid for our tickets, we want to continue our journey."
The tragedy happens because the fire starts, the power is cut off
and it causes 80 deaths.
Here are the first Metro tickets from 1900 up to around 1919.
Was the price the same for 20 years?
The price stayed the same for 19 years.
On opening day, tickets cost 15 centimes in 2nd class and 20 centimes in 1st.
And 19 years later, in 1919, in the wake of a strike,
with Metro workers campaigning for an 8 hour day,
they are granted it and the pay bill increases.
So, Metro ticket prices go up for the first time, to 20 centimes.
Twenty centimes of the old French franc.
I can remember the Metro before you could use telephones.
I must tell you about another era. Before World War I,
there were private Metro companies. The RATP didn't exist.
One of them was the Nord-Sud company.
It had two Metro lines leaving North Paris and arriving in the South.
Today, Line 12 is an old Nord-Sud company line.
It was all standardized in 1947.
They used to try to attract passengers.
On the Nord-Sud line, the Metro carriages were a bit different.
They were colorful and had a more classic design,
unlike the Guimard design in the other Metro stations.
They wanted to be identified everywhere and make you, the passenger, understand
that you weren't just anywhere, you were with Nord-Sud.
For example, take a look at this above this poster.
It's a little ceramic with an intertwining N and S.
This means, ladies and gents, that you're in a Metro station
that's served by the Nord-Sud company.
All this was standardized in 1947, when the RATP was created.
You learn something new every day!
Hello, this is the Vaugirard workshop.
This is where we take care of the VMIs, the infrastructure maintenance vehicles.
They circulate at night, conducting maintenance on the rails and stations
and many things.
From time to time, we receive trains.
They come out of the tunnel and we must bring them here.
VMI MECHANIC
We have a special vehicle for this called the Moïse
because we circulate on rails without power
and as they are trains that only run on power,
we need to tow them with this diesel-powered Moïse.
The wheels are checked.
We can conduct non-destructive testing in our workshop.
We remove the wheel from its axletree
and the axletree and wheel are both x-rayed.
There are trains that are used to clean the Metro arches.
They pass by and clean the Metro arches with jets.
There are trains that pass by to vacuum
anything that could obstruct train circulation on the rails.
They're called, "Vacuum trains."
There are also trains that check rail symmetry.
There are lots of people and various types of train with different functions.
WELCOME TO THE TRAINING CENTER
Receiving you, go ahead.
I'm informing you of the conditions. Over to you.
All this is simulated because we're training here.
What do you do in real life? Do you drive or pilot?
I'm an intern trainee right now.
TRAINEE DRIVER
Does that mean that you've never driven a Metro train alone?
Correct.
So, this is the MF67.
MF means that it's railway equipment and 67 is the year it was developed.
How do you drive with this?
You can find a handle here.
To close the doors, use this button on the central unit and one on the doors.
And this is really interesting.
That's the standby which lets you...
It's a security measure, in case the driver breaks down.
If you release it after a few seconds, the train stops.
It stops automatically.
To show clearly that the driver is on standby, you must always do that.
Hold and release it.
Why do you do this? Was it your dream to drive a Metro?
My aunt is a Metro driver and I once had the chance to get in the cab.
What does that mean? - Like you now.
So, this is called the cab? - Yes.
I had no idea. Ok, we're in the cab.
And you decided to give it a go.
Will it start up? - Yes, of course.
Let's go. - Off we go.
I'll let you do it.
Back up to the surface at Abbesses Station in Montmartre.
Check out these railings, you must recognize them.
They're the typical Metro railings designed by Hector Guimard,
an engineer from Lyon who was born in 1867
and went on to design all the Metro exits in the early 20th century.
Guimard was one of the fathers of French Art Nouveau.
He was a slightly irritating engineer because he always had original ideas.
It was a bit expensive to build the strange hotels that he proposed.
He got on people's nerves a little, but what a brilliant guy.
Look at that. It's called an aedicule.
It's a canopy used to cover the Metro station to shelter it from rain.
They used to be everywhere and this is the last one.
It used to be at Hôtel de Ville Station on Line 1 in the center of Paris
and it was moved here to Abbesses Station.
The last Guimard aedicule.
What's incredible is, we're going forward in time.
In 1940, when the German armed forces take over the capital,
everything stops except the Metro.
On June 14, 1940, German troops enter Paris which is declared an open city.
Everyone has fled and 10% of the population remains.
STATION OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
The Metro is operating with a reduced timetable and staff.
Imagine a German soldier getting off his tank at Pont de Clignancourt.
He can take the metro all the way to Porte d'Orléans.
All this without paying, because back then, between 1940 and 1945,
Germans soldiers in uniform rode the Metro for free.
Unlike when the Americans arrive in 1944 to liberate Paris
and Anglo-American army leaders negotiate a special Metro rate
and create a military ticket written in French and English,
for use by the GIs who are stationed in Paris.
Incredible! The allies had to pay for their own Metro tickets,
unlike the German soldiers.
Here we're in front of Line 6 that runs from Étoile to Nation.
As we're talking about the War, Line 6 has an incredible story.
The first members of the Free French Forces
who served in the Secret Service created by de Gaulle,
when choosing their pseudonyms,
were inspired by the names of stations on that line.
The most famous among them is Colonel Passy.
Oh yes, Passy Station is just there. - And others like Boissière.
Here's another anecdote in the same vein.
When some members of the Resistance went underground,
they changed their name and also used station names.
The most famous is François Morland, otherwise known as Francois Mitterand.
François Morland! Well spotted. The station is Sully Morland.
Grégoire Thonnat, in your book, you write
that a Metro ticket can change your destiny.
You have a fabulous story about Juliette Gréco
during the War when she's 16 years old.
Juliette Gréco wasn't living in Paris but in Périgueux in the countryside.
Her mother was in the Resistance and had told her:
"If anything ever happens to me, go up to Paris and go to this address."
She goes home and realizes her mom has been arrested.
She's with her older sister who's 19 years of age.
They go up to Paris, aiming to go to that address
and they get arrested by the Gestapo.
She's then interrogated and put in prison in Fresnes.
Isn't it dangerous for a 16-year-old leaving Fresnes Prison?
She's wearing a flimsy dress because she was arrested in summer.
Plus, everything has been taken from her bag, except...
There are just two things left in her bag:
a telephone token and a return Metro ticket that has been punched once.
She wonders: "What will become of me? What will I do?"
Then she remembers that her mom's friend, a French teacher, was living in Paris
and she goes into a bar and finds this woman's details.
This woman says to her: "Meet me now and we'll put you up and hide you.
This Metro ticket that she still has, with one remaining journey,
takes her to a Saint-Germain-des-Prés guesthouse.
She discovers Saint-Germain, Boris Vian and Paris cellars.
Her career starts thanks to this Metro ticket.
Her life turns around and this ticket takes her where her career begins.
ARTWORK BY JEAN-MICHEL OTHONIEL CREATED FOR THE METRO CENTENARY
The stations have white tiles.
HEAD OF THE SPACE DESIGN AND IDENTITY UNIT
Quite interestingly, this wasn't a random choice.
A Parisian will find it normal that Metro stations are like that,
but, out of the world's 160 Metro systems, only ten have white platform arches.
So, it's quite exceptional.
We call them 7,5 x 15 or white cut tiles.
They are 15 cm long by 7,5 cm wide.
These were chosen because, firstly, they best reflected the very rare light
emitted by 20 watt bulbs every 5 meters.
In 1900, people didn't read their newspapers,
despite it being one of the best lit public spaces
where, at one time, there were gas street lamps every 70 meters.
So, it best reflected the light, producing this diamond skin effect.
Secondly, it evens out any flaws in the building work
and also, it was washable,
at a time when people were fearful of the new Metro
and this was a positive element from a hygienist perspective.
People visiting Paris find it remarkable.
The Americans and Japanese will gasp
when they see an underground landscape unlike any other elsewhere.
METRO MUSICIANS
In 1997, we set up an organization
around an audition system, taking place twice a year in the spring and the fall.
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Around 2,000 candidates turn up and only 300 are successful.
It's a selection process like with all auditions.
12 DECEMBER 1933, DOUALA, CAMEROON
Some of the artists who were initially unknown,
have become famous throughout the years.
We've had Khezia Jones and Dany Brillant.
Among the most recent, we've had Zaz, William Baldé and Anis.
These are artists who started out in the Metro.
My stage name is Vanupié.
I first worked in advertising, where I was always well dressed.
In 2005, I quit so that I could devote all my time to music.
I tried to shake off as many superficial things as possible.
I went as far as getting rid of my shoes
and that's how I got my stage name, which means "barefoot."
What's interesting about the Metro is that it's open stage 24/7.
We turn up and stop when we want,
we play as long as we want and start the same song over if we want.
Because people don't stop for that long, they stop for 5 minutes then leave.
This allows you to constantly work on what you want to.
And so, we're completely free.
It's brought me a lot of freedom and assertiveness.
I never used to be confident until I started doing this, basically.
The first time that you're in the Metro, next to a bin,
you might think: "I couldn't sink any lower, I'm at rock bottom."
But when you're at rock bottom,
the only way is up.
There's something very exhilarating about it.
You want to progress and live your life, etc.
I'm not sure if I bring joy to people, I think I do to those who stop.
In any case, people bring joy to me and when I go home, I'm buzzing.
I am the ticket puncher at Lilas Station
The man you meet but you don’t look at...
Look, we have a ticket punch for checking tickets.
It's the Lilas ticket puncher's work tool, as imagined in the song.
How many holes a day did they punch? - On average, 3,500 holes per day.
Quite a nasty job.
If I punch my ticket today, they won't understand, will they?
No, they won't understand.
You used to give him the ticket and he did this: One, two.
There you go, holes.
Have the holes always been this size? - No, it's quite a funny story.
In 1943... - Careful, this guy knows the hole size!
It's that level of perversity. These guys are dangerous!
This guy knows the size of the holes in 1960's Metro tickets, he's nuts.
In collecting them, you notice that the size of the hole,
goes from 4 mm to 6 mm in 1943. In fact, nobody cares.
But why would you spend time increasing the hole size during the Occupation?
But in fact, that would date back to when the first fare dodgers appeared.
Back then France was resourceful and making savings everywhere.
Paris is hungry and cold and making savings everywhere.
So, some wise guys tapped breadcrumbs into the holes to fill them up.
So, they made new tickets out of used ones.
They were the first ever Metro frauds.
So, they increased the holes to make it harder?
Exactly!
Hi, Sandrine. - Hi, Éric.
Often on TV programs, we pretend we don't know each other.
In reality, Sandrine and I met in make-up a few minutes before.
Firstly, what do you do when you're not behind a counter?
Do you check tickets on the Metro? What do you do?
Yes, we check tickets, we take care of security.
STATION OFFICER
We take care of commercial transactions or relieve other people.
It's unbelievably versatile.
I thought you stayed in one place for three years and then changed assignment.
No, in reality, your days are never the same.
Exactly. This week, I've supervised a team checking tickets.
Yesterday, I replaced someone and today, I've been on the till
and relieved colleagues, so it changes a lot.
Are you taught to be patient with passengers who take their time...
No, it comes naturally.
Including old ladies, and ask you: "I need to go to Porte des Lilas."
Are you taught how to be patient?
It comes with time.
Thanks. Do you know where you'll be tomorrow morning?
Tomorrow afternoon, I'll be at Sèvres-Babylone and...
Do you know the day before, not weeks in advance?
No, it's from one day to the next.
Will you be checking tickets at Sèvres-Babylone?
No, I'm on the information desk.
Thanks a lot, Sandrine, the friendly ticket inspector.
Bye, Sandrine. - Have a nice day.
A quick hello to my Sèvres-Babylone colleagues.
I just heard: "Mike has an MI," what does it mean?
Mike is the driver's name. - We won't give out his surname.
What does "an MI" mean? - He has an inactive engine.
The equipment has three engines and only two are working.
HEAD OF DEPARTURES
He's late. - It works with two engines.
So, we're in a PLM, is that right? - A PML.
What does that mean? - Local maneuvering station.
So, we're on the rails. - Yes, we are.
So, what happens here? What do you do?
We regulate the interval between trains so that they're as frequent as possible.
Currently, in the morning, they're every 2 minutes 20 seconds
and at peak time in the evening, every 2 minutes 30 seconds.
A 2 minute 30 second interval between trains from leaving the terminus.
It should keep the same time until it reaches the other terminus.
What are the most frequent causes of delays that you have to manage?
There are lots of incidences of people feeling queasy or having problems.
We have to wait for firemen to arrive while other trains are still operating.
That makes our work complicated as we're monitoring our drivers.
They have timetables to stick to and can't work 8 or 9 hours a day.
It's also a security issue, so we monitor them to try to stick to the schedule.
Thanks to our railway signalmen here in this PLM. Or is it PML?
PML. - I must remember.
And now we're going to visit a PCC at Bastille,
the Bourdon command post
and there you'll see that we're within an organization that manages one line.
It's totally automated and more like the Metro of the future.
AN AUTOMIZED LINE 1
30-31, I'll delete your delay indicator and you can go as far as George V.
Maillot? OK, will the driver of train 19, evacuate your passengers, please?
And we'll be able to park at Maillot on platform 2.
From this room, we'll carry out all the checks
and place all the orders relating to Line 1.
Line 1 is the oldest line of the network.
DIRECTOR OF THE AUTOMISATION PROJECT
It was opened on July 19, 1900
and it's also the network's busiest line with over 700,000 passengers per day.
A lot of maintenance work has just been carried out on Line 1.
We're making changes to it.
It's going to move over from trains with drivers to automatic trains.
It you use Line 14 of the Paris Metro, you're on an automatic line.
All the other lines operate with drivers.
Our project is to transform Line 1 which has drivers,
to a line without drivers, like Line 14.
When you use an automatic line, like Line 14,
when people are leaving a concert at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy,
at 11 PM and 10,000 come down here, we put on a peak time timetable.
Because we don't need drivers, we just need to park the trains.
The advantage of automation is
providing passengers with consistency
and supply and demand, keeping them permanently happy,
whether it be during the week, at night, at weekend or during the holidays,
as on Line 1, we also have lots of people during the holidays.
When you're on an automatic train, you're not alone.
Firstly, if we turn around, we can see this optical control board,
which is what we call this wall of images.
That's just a sample of Line 1 stations, you don't see them all.
It's our supervisor of operations watching what's going on.
You've got your ticket, great
You've got your ticket, wow
Ticket ticket tac, tic tac tac Ticket ticket tac
Tic tac toc
You've got your ticket, great You've got your ticket, wow...
I can't resist finishing the show without letting you hear
this emblematic 1980's disco track.
Everyone remembers: "You've got your ticket, great,"
the RATP's slogan in 1981, 30 years ago.
Let's sing!
You've got your ticket, great You've got your ticket, wow...
Have a good week. See you next week.
Subtitles: Babel Subtitling - babelSUB.be