Paris transport authorities backtrack over maximum size of luggage on metro
Previous rules meant passengers technically could not take airline luggage on metro trains
The lifting of the baggage limit removes the discrepancy between RATP services and other transport
Wang An Qi/Shutterstock
Luggage of more than 75cm in total dimensions will now be allowed on the Paris metro and RATP services, after it was identified that the limit was lower than that permitted by most airlines or TGV trains.
Pierre Baty, administrator of regional transport network Ile-de-France Mobilités, pushed on May 16 for RATP to change its rules to ensure they are aligned with baggage sizes on airlines and trains, including Air France and Ryanair.
For example, SNCF allows luggage up to 90 cm in total dimensions, AirFrance up to 158 cm, and Ryanair up to 120 cm. This mismatch of rules meant that passengers could not legally travel to airports or TGV stations on the metro or RATP services.
One X (Twitter) user wrote: “Is this a joke?”, before listing the maximum airline dimensions, and then stating: “You can travel the world with your suitcase, but if you arrive [at the airport] on the RATP metro, you risk a fine of €200”.
Mr Baty wrote to RATP asking it to “publish a clarification of this regulation” and to standardise its rules to align with “all other modes of public transport”.
RATP had reiterated that its baggage limit was 75 cm on May 5, but on May 18, it relented to pressure, and stated to Le Figaro: “[We impose] no precise dimensions on suitcases”.
The network did say, however, that despite its previous rule, “no-one had been fined” for taking a suitcase larger than 75 cm on to its services.
Cumbersome luggage
The U-turn on luggage size comes barely a week after RATP repaid a €150 fine it had demanded from a passenger, after a large plant she was carrying - measuring 130-160 cm tall and 25 cm wide - was found to be “cumbersome” and against network rules.
Read also: Woman fined €150 for carrying a plant on Paris metro is reimbursed
She hit back at the fine, saying that RATP states that “on the metro signs, it says that bulky luggage is banned, but that packages, bags, and luggage that you can carry, as long as you don’t disturb other passengers, are allowed”.
RATP rules still state that packages (which do not include suitcases) up to two metres long are allowed, they can be “no more than 20 cm in any other dimension, provided you hold them upright”.
