Louis Blanc (Paris Métro)
Louis Blanc () is a Paris Métro station on line 7 and 7bis (serving as the western terminus of Paris Métro Line 7bis). The station is named after "rue Louis Blanc", which honours Louis Blanc (1811–1882), who published political works, which led to the foundation of the French Socialist Party. He was a member of the Provisional Government of 1848 and had exiled himself to London during the Second Empire from 1848 to 1870. He was then elected to the French National Assembly in 1870. The station has two island platforms and two side platforms, a layout  rarely found elsewhere in the Métro. History. Louis Blanc opened on 23 November 1910, 18 days after the commissioning of the first section of line 7 between Opéra and Porte de la Villette with the branch from "Louis Blanc" to Pré Saint-Gervais only opening on 18 January 1911 due to difficulties during its construction. On 3 December 1967 the branch to "Pré Saint-Gervais" was separated as "7bis", terminating at this station, with "Louis Blanc" becoming its western terminus as a result of an imbalance in traffic between the two branches – the branch to Porte de la Villette having  significantly higher traffic due to its role as an important terminus for many suburban buses. This enabled a higher frequency of trains services that could run on the branch to Porte de la Villette than before where 1 of every 2 trains went to each branch. As part of the "Un métro + beau" programme by the RATP, the station was renovated and modernised on 11 July 2014. In 2019, the station was used by 2,272,326 passengers, making it the 228th busiest of the Métro network out of 302 stations. In 2020, the station was used by 1,226,441 passengers amidst  the COVID-19 pandemic, making it the 209th busiest of the Métro network, out of 305 stations. Passenger services. Access. Louis Blanc has a single entrance with a Guimard kiosk, registered as a historical monument since 29 May 1978, at the intersection of rue La Fayette and rue du Faubourg-Saint-Martin. Other connections. The station is also served by lines 26, 46, and 54 of the RATP bus network, and at night, by lines N13, N41, N42, and N45 of the Noctilien bus network.