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Metro: Line 4 closed for 12 days, what are the alternatives?

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The Editor

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This Monday, April 20th, oh rage, oh despair, marked the start of the dreaded closure of line 4 — aka one of the best, but also one of the busiest in Paris — between Barbès and Châtelet, and this will last until May 1st. More than 10 days of struggle, during which we'll need to show a bit of clever resourcefulness.

Taking the metro in the capital sometimes requires training worthy of a secret agent, a ninja, or anyone else who's developed some pretty stylish skills over time. And it's no wonder, as you have to weave through the lost tourists in the corridors, negotiate your way past 4 brainless teens camped out in front of the door, or even know how to bounce back in seconds if there’s a disruption on your favorite line. But here’s the catch: in our specific case, the disruption lasts more than a week and affects seven stations. Luckily, we’ve decided to help you see a bit more clearly.


Habits to Rethink

It was thousands of travelers who found themselves in a jam this Monday, April 20th, because they had forgotten...

Many people hadn’t thought about the closure of line 4, or hadn’t taken the time to set up a battle plan in advance. What's behind this interruption that we could have done without? Some modernization work, especially the renewal of the track equipment in this central section to ensure the quality and safety of the network in the long run? As a result, seven stations are completely closed for 12 days, including major connections on the purple line, such as Gare de l’Est, Les Halles (the largest underground station in the world, through which more than 750,000 people pass each day), and Gare du Nord, the station that handles the most traffic in Europe. Fantastic!


A Few Wobbly Backup Plans

To make up for this closure, RATP, in its immense kindness, has decided to lend us a hand by strengthening its service on no less than 4 bus lines that roughly follow the route of the purple line. The lucky picks are line 38, which runs from Gare du Nord to Les Halles via Boulevard de Sébastopol, line 39, around Saint-Germain-des-Prés and the Les Halles area, line 56 for the Belleville-Châtelet axis, and finally, line 85, which connects the north and the center of Paris. And if the bus isn’t quite your thing, you can always fall back on lines 2, 5 or the RER B and D, which offer some similarities. In any case, we must warn you, it might get a bit tricky, and this isn’t just a minor detail.is not over yet, since Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) has already announced a new closure of the line for almost 20 days this summer.