With 63,000 employees operating 4.8 billion trips per year worldwide, of which 1.5 billion outside the Ile-de-France region, the RATP Group is a major player in mobility. The long-established leader in passenger transport in the Ile-de-France region works every day to improve its impact on air quality, in an effort to meet the demands of a sustainable city and to reduce its environmental footprint. Sophie Mazoué, the Sustainable Development Manager of the RATP Group, describes the initiatives the company has taken to monitor and improve air quality
Air pollution is a worldwide issue resulting from many different human activities, including industry and transport. What are the RATP’s current initiatives in this field?
In our activity as a bus and rail network operator, we must pay close attention to air quality outdoors and indoors. The RATP launched the energy transition of its bus network with the “Bus 2025” project, which impacts our fleet of 4,700 buses. By 2025, 100% of the fleet will be clean, ultimately with two-thirds of electric buses and one-third running on bioNGV . This project will enable us to keep our promises on energy and the climate (a 50% reduction of our greenhouse gas emissions and a 20% reduction of our energy consumption between 2015 and 2025) and to also cut polluting emissions.
We face different air quality issues in our underground rail networks. Even if gaseous pollution is low, the braking systems of the rolling stock emit particles. This phenomenon exists on every rail network in the world. Consequently, we have taken measures to identify and characterise these particles, whether they are large, fine or ultrafine. The action plan to improve air quality includes the development of electric braking systems, innovative air filtering solutions and the improvement of ventilation.
The occupational health department also conducts epidemiological surveys. Today, their results are very reassuring, because they show no increase in the prevalence of cardiovascular or respiratory symptoms amongst the staff members who work underground.