Since last July, venturing on line 1 of the Lille metro has been more like Russian roulette than a boring routine. Entangled in the endless tests of its new capricious autopilot system, Ilévia, the delegatee of the public transport service of the metropolis, accumulates breakdowns synonymous with hassle for users.
We no longer even know how long the people of Lille have been waiting for the new trains of their automatic metro, the size of which should make it possible to double the passenger transport capacity. Because to put them into service, you needed a new autopilot system, and it doesn’t work. Or badly anyway. As a result, since the system was tested on line 1, the breakdowns have continued with almost daily traffic interruptions. And during rush hour for that matter.
Penalties “returned to users”
As a result, for months this has been going on, users, travel associations and elected officials have been demanding accountability from Ilévia. Firstly so that the metro finally functions normally, but also to compensate subscribers who are regularly penalized. In a gesture considered contemptuous by those concerned, Ilévia had offered compensation in the form of a free one-year subscription to its self-service bicycles. Proposal “totally insufficient given the degraded quality of the service provided and the damaging consequences for all public transport users”, lamented Audrey Linkenheld, president of the Sustainable and Solidarity Metropolis group at the European Metropolis of Lille (MEL) .
But it was neither the rants of elected officials nor the demonstrations of users that made Ilévia review the proposed compensation upwards. Besides, to this day, Ilevia still has nothing better to offer. It was the president of the MEL himself who stepped in. On A gesture welcomed by the MobiLille association, which however remains vigilant. In fact, we still do not know the amount of these penalties and in what form they will be paid to users.