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People living in the suburbs would be happy to take the subway to the city if it was clean, safe and not full of random homeless crazy people.

I’m all for making cities pedestrian only, but you also need to build a comfortable way to go there. Paris is only doing half of the job.

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Admittedly it has been a while since I've been in Paris but as far as I know the city does not have an above average problem with homelessness or mental health, particularly in its metro system. I know it's a huge problem in the U.S., though, so maybe you are confusing the two contexts.

Paris also has a substantial bus system and the article highlights the opportunities created for biking. So even if the metro would have problems, many people can rely on other modes of transport.

Is that a huge problem on the Paris metro? I haven't ridden it in years, so I'm sadly lacking in practical experience. I know it's a major issue over here in the States, though. Similarly, it's difficult to justify biking around in the states, too, because so many metro areas have angle grinder-wielding crazies cruising around, looking for fresh bikes to steal. Hopefully Paris has solved some of that issue.

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