Reconfinement: the French move 2 to 3 times more than in the spring

A week after the entry into force of the containment, to fight against the second wave of the coronavirus, the French have moved two to three times more since October 30 than during the first containment, according to data from several operators.

• -30% in distance traveled

The distances traveled by users of the Waze road app had decreased by 30% on November 3, the last day for which available data exists. At the beginning of April, the reductions in distances traveled were much greater, rather in the order of 80 to 90%.

On Apple Plan, route requests for car trips were down 38% on Wednesday from normal. They were down 45% for journeys by public transport, and 55% for journeys on foot.

During the first containment, requests had fallen by around 80% for car routes, and more than 80% for journeys on foot.

• -30% on the highways and in Paris

The Société des autoroutes du Nord et de l’Est de la France (Sanef) – the only major motorway company to communicate its figures – notes a 30% drop in traffic this week. He had collapsed by 80% during the first containment.

In intramural Paris, the deputy in charge of transport David Belliard noted a 29% drop in traffic on Monday, November 2. “We are far from the decrease in circulation of the first confinement (-70% over the period)”, he noted.

• Still crowded during rush hour on public transport

The use of public transport in Ile-de-France fell by a little more than half compared to the level reached at the end of October, to 30% of the normal pre-Covid on average, with quite marked peaks at rush hour (50% in the morning), lows during the day and almost no one in the evening. The trends are the same in the provinces, with slightly more people, up to 40% on average.

For the record, we were between 5 and 10% during the first confinement. In regional trains (TER), ridership fell on average to a third of normal, with fairly marked peaks in the morning and evening and empty trains during the day and in the evening. It had collapsed to 2.5% in the spring.

• Collapse in TGV

Attendance collapsed Tuesday in the TGV, to 15%, against 50% in October – weekdays, the trains being more filled at weekends -, and it continues to drop to 10%, according to the SNCF.

At the height of the first confinement, we had fallen to 1% in TGVs.

• Fewer city dwellers in the green

With schools and services open, and economic activity which continues, fewer city dwellers have left to confine themselves to green: “we are roughly in a gap of one to three. (…) In the case of Paris, 400,000 Parisians had left the city: they are 150,000 this time ”, according to Stéphane Richard, CEO of Orange.

However, only half of these departures are usual residents of the capital, while the others were just “passing through”, said Michaël Trabbia, director of innovation at the operator, during a press briefing.

• Half the Vélib ‘

The use of micromobility services has “fallen significantly”, between -25 and -50%, “but we remain at a level 4 to 5 times higher than that of March”, underlines Julien Chamussy, Managing Director of the consulting firm Fluctuo . In Paris, Vélib ‘has recorded 25% fewer trips, with 90,000 trips per day since the start of the week, against 120,000 at the end of October, and 20,000 during the first confinement.

As for self-service scooters, operators Lime, Dott and Tier recorded a drop of 40%, with 10 to 12,000 trips this week, against the usual 18 to 20,000. All except Dott had put away their gear in the spring.

“The private operators could have decided to put the services on hiatus, but they did not do so”, emphasizes Julien Chamussy. “They could see it coming with the curfew.”

(With AFP)