The Métro: Democracy in Motion

The Métropolitain, as it was formally known, embodied Belle Époque contradictions. Its Art Nouveau entrances by Hector Guimard suggested organic growth, yet the system was pure industrial planning. First-class carriages with padded seats served the bourgeoisie, while second-class wooden benches carried workers, yet all traveled in the same trains at the same speed. Technology, it seemed, could be both hierarchical and democratic.

Fulgence Bienvenüe, the system's chief engineer, had overseen a marvel of urban surgery. Tunneling beneath Paris without disturbing the city above required new techniques. The cut-and-cover method tore up streets but moved quickly. The deeper tunneling protected buildings but cost more. Each choice reflected social priorities: wealthy neighborhoods got expensive deep tunnels, working-class areas endured surface disruption.

The Métro's social impact was immediate. Domestic servants could live farther from their employers, commuting from cheaper quarters. Shop girls no longer needed to walk hours to work. The geographic segregation of classes, enforced by distance and exhaustion, began to blur. "The Métro," complained one aristocrat, "allows anyone to go anywhere. How can we maintain proper distinctions?"

Women especially benefited from underground transport. Surface streets posed dangers—harassment from men, mud from carriages, judgments about unescorted travel. The Métro's enclosed cars and regulated environment provided safety. Though some conservatives worried about women and men pressed together in crowds, most women embraced the freedom. "I can visit my sister in Belleville without spending my week's wages on a cab," wrote Marie Leclerc, a seamstress from the Marais.

Yet the Métro also created new anxieties. The fear of being underground, of tunnels collapsing, of being trapped with strangers, generated a new medical condition: "Métro phobia." Doctors prescribed various cures, from smelling salts to hypnosis. The newspaper Le Figaro ran articles teaching proper Métro etiquette: how to board efficiently, where to stand, when to offer seats. Modernity required instruction manuals.