The French Communist Party has withdrawn its request to postpone a decision on ending the monopoly of Paris' bus network operation ©Getty Images

The French Communist Party (PCF) has withdrawn its request for the decision of multiple bus companies to be allowed to operate in Paris for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games to be postponed.

Currently the Autonomous Parisian Transportation Administration (RATP) is the sole bus operator in the capital but is under strain due to worker strikes. 

This has resulted in the French Government considering permitting other companies to run services, with a view of alleviating pressure during next year's Games.

The PCF proposed to the National Assembly that this could lead to further social conflicts, with civil unrest lasting for more than three months mainly down to the increase of the retirement age from 62 to 64.

The French Government is considering allowing more companies than just the RATP to operate to alleviate pressure caused by series of strikes that has paralysed Paris ©Getty Images
The French Government is considering allowing more companies than just the RATP to operate to alleviate pressure caused by series of strikes that has paralysed Paris ©Getty Images

"In 2024, it will collide the allocation of lots to private companies, the allocation of personnel and social negotiations," PCF member Stéphane Peu, also Seine-Saint-Denis representative at the National Assembly, told French newspaper Le Monde.

Peu had alleged Île-de-France Mobilités' President Valérie Pécresse of acting "in a totally irresponsible way" by engaging in the "madness" of allowing competition to the bus network and wanting to be "the [Margaret] Thatcher of Île-de-France".

The PCF had originally proposed a Bill to postpone other companies operating until the end of 2028. 

This was then reduced by two years by the National Assembly before the PCF withdrew it altogether with Peu stating that "compromises with the majority are only made in one direction".

French Communist Party National Assembly member Stéphane Peu had claimed that opening up Paris' bus network to competitors will only increase social conflicts ©Getty Images
French Communist Party National Assembly member Stéphane Peu had claimed that opening up Paris' bus network to competitors will only increase social conflicts ©Getty Images

The IDFM is expecting to transport approximately seven million people during the Olympic Games, scheduled to take place from July 26 to August 11, and a further three million for the Paralympics from August 28 to September 8.

RATP is aiming to recruit more than 6,600 new employees this year, with 4,900 of those on permanent contracts. 

It hopes to hire 2,700 bus drivers as well as 400 metro drivers, 700 station agents, 400 maintenance workers and 120 security guards.

The recruitment drive also takes this year's Rugby World Cup into consideration.

The tournament is due to run from September 8 to October 28 in venues across the country.