The Joys of Commuting

If you were ever inclined to think of Europe as a mass-transit paradise, you wouldn't be after enduring my commute for the last week.

I take the Metro's 1 line, which is the most crowded line even at the best of times -- it's the only Metro line serving the huge office development at La Defense, on the western edge of Paris. It runs at capacity at rush hour, and unlike in New York there are no express tracks or alternate routes here. Each of the 14 Metro lines has exactly one set of tracks going in each direction, so if a train breaks down, every train behind it has to wait.

On average, I've been delayed 10-15 minutes each day, each way for about the last week -- and when the train is delayed, of course it only gets more crowded, as more people arrive in the station and try to pile on. If you're claustrophobic or need your personal space, the Metro at rush hour is not for you.

They make announcements when these things happen, sometimes, but as in New York the announcements aren't terribly informative. Probably the train driver doesn't know what's going on any more than we do.

The Parisians seem to take this all in stride, with much less overt complaining than you'd hear in New York. I guess they're used to it -- at least I haven't had to suffer any of the strikes that France is famous for, except for a couple days last month when I didn't get my newspaper at home because the deliverers were on strike.

I do note that the French have invented a new verb since I was here in '96: "patienter," which means "to be patient."