According to the testimonies collected by the daily, the drivers have an electronic suitcase with which they can “erase all the warning lights indicating a technical problem on the dashboard before going through the inspection”. The manipulation would make it possible to avoid immobilizing buses.
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They denounce fraud. RATP drivers accuse the public transport company in the Paris region of imposing manipulations on them to camouflage the warning signals of buses before their half-yearly technical inspection and thus avoid their immobilization, according to their testimonies in an investigation by Parisian published Wednesday August 21.
“If the ‘fraudulent excesses’ are proven, they are totally unacceptable” And “RATP must put an end to this immediately and punish the perpetrators”reacted Valérie Pécresse, president of the Ile-de-France region and the Ile-de-France transport union Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM), in a message on X on Wednesday evening.
According to the testimonies collected, the drivers are given an electronic suitcase with which they can “Clear all warning lights indicating a technical problem on the dashboard before going through the inspection”. According to The Parisian“The on-board computer does not have time to re-enable the alerts” And “According to the drivers interviewed, this dubious manipulation would make it possible to avoid a second inspection, which is mandatory if a warning light is on during the technical inspection”.
In Le Parisien, the RATP declared that a “the orange dashboard light is not a safety hazard for driving the vehicle, only the red light is”. She recognizes that the “diagnostic suitcase” allow “to reset the measurement values”. “But when the bus is powered up during the technical inspection, in the event of a major malfunction, the fault appears again”the Régie defended itself again.
The method would avoid costly downtime and reduced fleet availability, which could lead to potential penalties for the public carrier, the daily claims. The Parisian assures to have “was able to see the operation for himself” in June and July in front of a Val-d’Oise control center receiving buses circulating within Paris. Contacted by AFP, the RATP was not able to react immediately.