Paris has become more accessible for disabled. Will it last after the Olympics?

PARIS — Since the start of the Olympics, Ndieme Lame has been commuting every day to the Stade de France where she works as a volunteer helping visitors find their way. The 57-year-old wheelchair user is in awe at how easy it's been to cross the city on public transit to reach the Olympic stadium.

“I never would have believed I could make it here almost on my own,” she said Wednesday after her 1 1/2-hour commute from her home in southern Paris.

Her daily journey highlights the city's efforts to improve accessibility for people with disabilities ahead of the Olympics and Paralympics. Lame said an online system that lets her book assistance at commuter train stations has been particularly helpful.

Challenges remain, however, particularly in the underground Metro system where most stations are not fully accessible to people in wheelchairs. And Lame wonders whether the train station assistants will still be there after the Paralympics, which start just over two weeks after the Olympics end.

“Right now, people are taking care of us, but after September, it will be back to the everyday struggle,” she said.

On Wednesday, AP journalists accompanied Lame on her commute from her home in Porte de Versailles, in southwestern Paris, to the Stade de France in Saint Denis, in the northern suburbs of the French capital.

Wearing the teal-coloured attire of the Paris 2024 volunteers, Lame, who was diagnosed with polio when she was 11 months old, glided out the automatic door and took the elevator down to the street. From there, a short ride on the sidewalk in her motorized wheelchair took her to the nearest tram station, which she accessed on a smooth concrete ramp.

“So far so good,” she said as she joined the commuters on the crowded T3 line, which runs alongside the Périphérique, the highway ring separating Paris from its outskirts. Other passengers made room for her wheelchair in the center of the tram car.

At Cité-Universitaire train station, Lame transferred to an RER commuter train. A station assistant helped her access an elevator that brought her to the platform. Another placed a ramp on the platform that allowed her to enter the train.

The process, while straightforward, is not always reliable, Lame said.

“Sometimes the websites say that the elevator is running and it turns out that it is not,” she said. This regularly forces her to make detours, resulting in significant delays.

On Wednesday, 53 out of the 162 lifts in all train and Metro stations in the Paris region were under maintenance, according to IDF Mobilité, the regional body overseeing public transit.

After exiting the train at the Plaine Saint-Denis station, Lame made her way to the Stade de France in her wheelchair.

“I was afraid of running late the entire time,” she said.

At the Stade de France, one of the biggest obstacles for people using wheelchairs is accessing the stadium on the Passerelle de l’Ecluse, a pedestrian bridge with stairs leading up to it but no elevator.

Hugues Valet, a 26-year-old aspiring para-triathlete who lost the use of his legs after a car accident, was surprised to find an assistant on hand to help him up the stairs as he and his cousin arrived at the stadium to watch the track competition.

“When I saw those stairs from afar, I was pretty upset and told my little cousin that we will have to turn around and make a huge detour to find another entry point,” Valet said. “I’m pretty stunned at how we’re being taken care of.”

Andrew Parsons, president of the International Paralympic Committee, praised the city’s efforts to make overground transport more accessible, but noted the frustration that many feel regarding other parts of the public transit system, particularly the century-old Metro system in which 93% of stations remain inaccessible or only partially accessible to people in wheelchairs.

“When the Metro system was built in Paris more than a century ago, people with disabilities were absolutely marginalized and considered second-class citizens,” Parsons said. “I understand the degree of frustration, but I’d like to see the glass half full and think about where we were, where we are and where we are going to be.”

When the Paralympics begin on Aug. 28, the spotlight on Paris will not only be on the athletes but also on the city itself—its triumphs in accessibility, and the gaps that still need bridging.

Paris has made significant investments to improve accessibility since winning the bid to host the Summer Games in 2017. The city boasts that 100% of its bus routes and tram lines are now wheelchair accessible, and 125 million euros have been allocated to further these efforts. The city hall has also invested in the creation of 17 “enhanced accessibility districts” in which public facilities and shops are adapted with ramps, tactile strips and designated parking spots for people with disabilities.

“The idea was to radically transform the city,” Lamia El Aaraje, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of accessibility, said on Thursday. “And I think we are delivering on our promise."