The chief executive of Paris’s public transport organization stated that navigation apps like Google Maps have been directed to limit recommended routes to those made available to travelers during the 2024 Olympic Games.
According to Laurent Probst, head of Ile-de-France Mobilites, the body that oversees public transport network operators in Paris and the surrounding area, “We have asked (Google Maps, City Mapper and others) to relay our transport plans so that the traveller takes the route we have indicated,” the newspaper Ouest-France reported on Wednesday.
He went on to say that the corporations would be requested to cancel their applications if they did not cooperate with the request, considering the matter to be of public safety.
The inauguration ceremony, which will see 160 boats depart on July 26 from the Pont d’Austerlitz in downtown Paris for a 6-km (3.7-mile) trek to the Pont d’Iena, is expected to draw up to 600,000 guests from France alone.
Instead of creating an Olympic Park, Paris chose to make use of the city’s already-existing infrastructure, which spectators will mostly access via public transportation.
The Paralympics will take place from August 28 to September 8, and the games will take place from July 26 to August 11.
