Strike in France? Here’s what you can do

Traffic. Chaos. Trains delayed. Flights cancelled. Meetings missed. Mums waiting. Hotels booked. Plans going awry. The train strike is here just at the right time to screw up everyone’s spring travels. The series of train, bus, pilot, air-traffic controllers and who-knows-what-else strikes make moving around in France quite a challenge these days.

What is the strike about? The French government has projected the privatization of the French rail network, aiming to open up the state railways to competition from 2023 and hence aligning it with EU requirements. This brings changes in the work conditions, pay rises, retirement, leave and dismissal policies, arising protest and opposition. Travellers across the country are affected by two strike days every five days with an average of six out of seven services cancelled. How do you get around it?

Here’s some work-arounds for dealing with the transport challenges:

1. Check which trains are affected — see SNCF for more information.
2. Switch to private transport — Pair up with others travelling the same route and find a ride on Zify Carpool!
3. Carsharing — Lend a car from someone who does not need it. Check drivy, ubeqoo or autolib.
4. Take a bus — and keep you’re fingers crossed that there is no bus strike either, wifi is working, your neighbour does not smell or snore and the toilet is open. Check Flixbus or Ouibus.
5. Fly — and hope air-traffic controllers, pilots etc. are happily working. Also, be aware of your footprint!
6. Stay where you are and make the best out of it, remember there are far worse problems to have! And share your happy moment #happystrike