This week, rail users in France have been posting images and videos of bedbugs discovered in train seats, raising questions about the security of this means of transportation.

Following the spread of such allegations, Transport Minister Clement Beaune urged visitors to maintain their composure and stressed that there was no cause for alarm or worry. A huge bedbug outbreak in public transit, he continued, is untrue.

However, social media users have brought attention to a bedbug infestation on Parisian trains, which has prompted the city halls to take action. In a letter written to Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, they addressed the issue.

SNCF (French National Railway Company) advises authorities to undertake anti-pest measures, such as traps and the use of pesticides, in various regions and conduct routine deep cleanings as a proactive response to this issue. Preventive treatments are typically administered every 60 days, but authorities have raised the frequency to every 15 days for at least the upcoming month due to recent reports.

Bedbugs aren’t very harmful because they don’t spread diseases, but their bites can still be unpleasant and itchy. Their quick spread is a further worry, and controlling infestations can be expensive and difficult.

According to the French National Agency for Food, Environmental, and Occupational Health Safety (Anses), this problem affects houses generally and has an average cost of €866 to fix. To clean up the afflicted regions, non-chemical remedies like intense heat or cold are suggested.

A bedbug infestation affected more than one in ten French families between 2017 and 2022, according to Anses, who attributes the surge in infestations to increased travel and bedbugs’ increasing resistance to insecticides.

A TGV train from Marseille to Paris and two further SNCF train sightings in the same week are among the recorded bedbug sightings. Additionally, a user of Ouigo’s budget trains posted a picture on social media last week claiming to have discovered what appeared to be a bedbug on her seat. Additionally, bedbug sightings have been reported on TCL buses in Lyon and the Paris Metro, particularly on line eight.