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Protests force closure of luxury Paris department store

Dozens of trade union members and disgruntled employees protested on Thursday at the ultra-luxury La Samaritaine shopping store in the heart of Paris, causing managers to shut its doors.

Published: 22 December 2022 16:00 CET

Protests force closure of luxury Paris department store

French President Emmanuel Macron (R) and Head of French multinational corporation LVMH Bernard Arnault (L) at the reopening of La Samaritaine in 2021. Photo by Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP

Owned by the French LVMH luxury giant, La Samaritaine re-opened in June last year after a €750-million facelift and renovation carried out over 16 years.

“La Samaritaine is a symbolic place representing wealth. A lot of employees here cannot allow themselves to buy what they sell,” Amar Lagha, from the hard-left CGT union, told AFP.

The store is owned by LVMH whose CEO Bernard Arnault this week was named as the world’s richest man.

Around 200-300 protesters were involved, including union members and employees, the CGT claimed.

OPINION The new Samaritaine is an example of the ‘Disneyfication’ of Paris

Wearing red vests with the union’s emblem, they could be seen standing among the displays of luxury handbags, make up and clothing even after management shut the store in the morning.

“Almost all of the demonstrators were not employees of la Samaritaine,” the store’s management said in a statement. “For security reasons, clients and personnel were evacuated.”

France has been hit by a series of strikes in different sectors of the economy as employees push for pay hikes in the face of annual inflation of around 6.0 percent.

Many train managers and ticket inspectors on the national railways have announced a stoppage over the Christmas weekend starting Friday, leading to two in five long-distance trains being cancelled.

Travellers and the government have reacted with fury to the train strike, which has been organised informally without union backing.

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Paris unveils sweeping transport price changes for 2025

The head of the Paris region and leader of Ile-de-France Mobilités, Valérie Pécresse, announced on Tuesday that there would be wide ranging changes to the prices for public transport tickets, taking effect from January 2nd, 2025.

The biggest change is introducing a single price for all journeys in the region – in contrast the current system where journeys into Paris from the outer suburbs are more expensive, in effect penalising commuters who live further out.

For example, under the previous system, taking the commuter train from Fontainebleau to Paris could cost up to €5, in contrast to the €2.15 ticket to get around inside Paris.

Pécresse explained to Le Parisien that the main goal is simplification and fairness.

“The aim is to take a ‘single Navigo pass’ to its logical conclusion. The principle that all Ile-de-France residents pay the same transport fair, whether they live in the suburbs or the city.

“[The change] will bring an end to the 50,000 different fares that have become unreadable and are sometimes unfair. It’s a real social project based on fairness and freedom,” Pécresse said.

Many of the capital’s lowest-paid workers live in the less expensive outer suburbs, and they have been effectively penalised by the current pricing structure.

However there are other changes coming down the line too.

Here are the changes;

Credit: Ile-de-France Mobilités

Metro and RER

The Paris Metro system, as well as the commuter RER lines, will be combined onto one single ticket, costing €2.50 for any journey within the greater Paris region.

This means that a transport user could switch from the RER and onto the Metro with the same ticket, regardless of how far they have travelled or how many zones they have crossed.

This change will represent an increase of €0.35 (from the €2.15) from the 2024 price for single Metro tickets inside the city.

However, for people travelling to and from the Paris suburbs, the single ticket will likely save them a significant amount.

For example, a journey between Paris and Noisy-le-Grand (Zone 4) cost €4.15 under the previous system, but it will cost €2.50 under the new system.

The only exception to this is tickets to and from Paris’ airports (more on that below).

Bus and tram

A new ticket will be created for the bus and tram lines. This will cost be separate to the Metro and RER ticket, and it will cost €2 per journey.

However, those purchasing a bus ticket on-board (via SMS) will still pay a heightened price of €2.50.

The other change will be ‘long-distance’ bus journeys. Previously, if a journey took longer than one hour and thirty minutes and involved more than one bus, then the user would have had to pay for two separate tickets per bus ride. Moving forward, ‘long’ bus journeys will cost just one €2 ticket.

This change means that transport users will need to think about buying separate Metro/ RER and bus/tram tickets if their journey requires both methods of transport.

For example, if you take the RER and then take a bus, you would need two separate tickets, as Metro/RER tickets are only valid on those lines, and bus/tram tickets are only valid on those lines.

Liberté +

This pay-as-you-go card will be made significantly more attractive under the new system, but it is only available to Paris region residents.

You have to subscribe online and connect the account to your RIB, for which you will need a French bank account. You can also track your consumption online, and at the end of the month you pay the total amount that you travelled.

The changes for the Liberté + will include a lower price for Metro/RER journeys (€1.99) and a reduced rate for bus/tram journeys (€1.60).

If you take a journey that combines the Metro and the bus, for example, then you would only pay one price (€1.99) for the entire journey, rather than needing to purchase two separate single tickets.

The other change is that the Liberté + will extend to the rest of Ile-de-France – it was previously only available inside of Paris (Zone 1).

And starting in spring 2025, the Liberté + will be available to load directly onto an Android or iOS enabled smartphone.

Generally, the Liberté + will be a more advantageous option for local residents to pay reduced prices and as-they-go.

Packets of 10 tickets

The ‘carnets’, or 10-ticket books, will be phased out entirely starting in January 2025.

The paper version of these booklets was already phased out, but a reduced price for a bundle of 10 tickets will no longer be available in any form starting in January.

If you want to purchase a bundle of tickets at once, you can still do so – and you can still store them on a Navigo Easy pass – but you will have to pay full price (€2.50 each or €25 for 10).

Trips to the airport

Trips to and from Paris’ airports will be the only exception to the new €2.50 flat rate.

Previously, trips to the airport cost a varying amount based on whether you took the Roissy/Charles de Gaulle bus (€16.60), Roissy/Charles de Gaulle RER (€11.80), Orly bus (€11.50), or Orly Line 14 (€10.30).

Moving forward, only one flat price of €13 will be charged for any and all trips to the airport.

Daily pass

Daily Metro passes, popular amongst tourists, allow for unlimited travel. Previously, they were priced based on the zones the visitor selected – so if you selected a two-zone option (Zones 1-2; Zones 2-3; Zones 3-4, etc) then you would pay €8.65 for the day.

A three-zone option (Zones 1-3, Zones 2-4, Zones 3-5) cost €11.60. The four zone option (Zones 1-4, Zones 2-5) cost €14.35, and the full option (Zones 1-5) cost €20.60.

However, the zoning will be scrapped from January, and instead, single day passes will cover all five zones and cost a flat price of €12. This does not include airports, however, so a separate airport ticket would be required.

Visitor pass

As for the visitor pass – this previously allowed two options for unlimited daily travel in the Paris area – either including just Zones 1-3 for €13.95 (per day), or including all five zones (and airports) for €29.95 (per day).

The new version will cost €29.90 and it will include all five zones, plus airports.

What about monthly and yearly Navigo passes?

Pécresse explained to Le Parisien that these will not change, as the focus is primarily on occasional travellers.

“For Navigo subscribers, nothing is changing. We are working within the framework of the agreement signed with the state, so future increases of these passes will always be less than or equal to inflation plus one percent,” Pécresse said.

What will the general impact be?

This will depend on whether you are a resident of the city of Paris (Zone 1), the Paris suburbs, or if you are a visitor.

For residents of Paris and the inner suburbs travel with single tickets inside the city will get more expensive, but the Liberté + plan is meant to offset these increases.

Meanwhile, outer suburb residents will likely see a significant decrease in their spending.

On the other hand occasional Metro users will see an increase in price while tourists and visitors will also see an increase.

What about my old tickets?

Any old paper tickets or individual electronic tickets (perhaps stored on a Navigo Easy pass) will still be functional until December 31st, 2025.

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