Transport in Paris

Paris is the centre of a national, and with air travel, international, complex transport system. The modern system has been superimposed on a complex map of streets and wide boulevards that were set in their current routes in the 19th century. On a national level, it is the centre of a web of road and railway, and at a more local level, it is covered with a dense mesh of bus, tram and metro service networks. Paris is known for the non-linearity of its street map, as it is a city that grew 'naturally' around roadways leading to suburban and more distant destinations. Centuries of this demographic growth created a city cramped, labyrinth-like and unsanitary, until a late 19th century urban renovation, overseen by Georges-Eugène Haussmann, resulted in the wide boulevards we see there today. This remained relatively unchanged until the 1970s, and the construction of cross-city and periphery expressways. More recently, the city began renovations to prioritise public transport systems, and has created 'purpose' lanes dedicated to buses, taxis, and, more recently, cyclists, narrowing the passages reserved for automobiles and delivery vehicles. Although reducing traffic flow within the city itself, this traffic modification often results in traffic congestion at the capital's gateway thoroughfares. Locally, Paris's most-frequented public transport is the Métro network, mostly underground. Across 16 lines, its closely spaced stations (around 500 metres between them on average) allow a connection between any capital quarter to any other, and a few lines extend quite far into the suburbs. This is complemented by a bus route network of 347 lines, and, since 1992, the tramway has made a reappearance with 12 lines in the Île-de-France region (mostly outside the city borders). Paris is also the hub of the Réseau Express Régional (RER), a train network with higher speeds and larger stop spacing compared to the Métro that connects the capital to suburban regions. The Transilien, a rail network radiating from the capital's train stations, provides service to other suburban destinations.