Keep your Metro Ticket-just a reminder

This is a good reminder to those who don't know. This is true for most, if not all, public transportation anywhere in the world, not just the Paris mêtro.

We average a check about once a week in Paris. We have also been checked on the metro in Vienna and on the bus in Florence. Also when using trains without a seat reservation type ticket, be sure to compost (validate) the ticket before boarding as an unvalidated ticket is not a ticket for the ride. Lots of suburban trains in particular do spot checks rather than having a conductor punch tickets. Big fines on the spot for not doing either of these things

I noticed train reserved train tickets being checked also on Trenetalia and Thello, also checks before you enter your Bin to ensure you have a ticket. On our prior trip 18 months ago we had one instance of our ticket checked on an Italian train, this time every train we took we had to present our tickets to an attendant while in route.

Letizia,

Thanks for the post as this is a good reminder. There was another thread on the forum recently on this subject......

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/paris-metro-ticket-enforcement

Yes, according to some of the Forum, it's those dastardly faux French transit police who are targeting unwitting tourists to - gasp! -- ask them for their tickets!

Kim, a tourist scam/trap! 😂

what if you hand your ticket to RS for safe keeping?

A good PSA. I'm in the habit of keeping them because I can't remember if I need it to get out of the Metro or RER. ;) I give it a little tear so I know not to try and use it again. Mostly I avoid the Metro and try to ride a Velib.

You must enter the bus via the front door, even if you have luggage, and validate your ticket.
I was on the bus yesterday and a group of German students got on via the exit door, with luggage, and didn't validate their tickets. Agents got on to check tickets. They all had to pay fines on the spot.
During the protests and crying, a girl had her phone stolen right out of her hand by a guy who ran out the exit door.
Contrary to popular belief, pickpockets do operate on the bus.

@Kim well I was not wearing my screen-print t-shirt that says "tourist" that day so I can't blame it on the tourist thing...must have been my American jeans and tank top, because no one wears that in Paris when it is 80 degrees right?

I get asked for a ticket on virtually every train ride. On RER and Metro, to date, I've only been asked once. I think I've spent about 7 or 8 days in Paris so about the one a week mentioned before.

I don't think the concern is tourists as much as those who might go through a gate two at a time to keep from paying for a ticket. I've seen at least a few examples of it. When I was asked. I had come through an entrance into a fairly narrow hallway, rounded a corner, and there stood five metro attendants stopping everyone and asking for their tickets. I was walking even with about a half dozen teens but I don't think any of them went through without their own ticket - so no one was in trouble.

I've never really studied the ticket but there is obviously something on it that tells the attendants whether it's a currently valid ticket. I try to keep my unused tickets in one pocket and the ticket I'm currently using in another so I don't get them mixed up.

Sometimes you need your ticket to exit a station, more often you just push on a gate. I try to get rid of the used ones as quickly as possible after I exit a station, so they don't mix with unused tickets (or a current one the next time I put one in that pocket).

Brad, the tickets are magnetic and they record the time of validation etc when validated I think -- it isn't just the ink. The checkers have machine to read the tickets. It is possible for them to become demagnetized and then worthless. If new you can have them replaced; if you are checked enroute I suspect you will have a fine. I had a coat with magnetic pocket closures and it routinely demagnetized my RER and metro tickets -- the ND doesn't have this vulnerability. You never need a ticket to exit the metro -- you usually have to go through a stile to exit the RER because those trips are metered and metro rides all cost the same.

If your ticket should not work, and has not been used, you can go to the manned booth in the Metro station and have it replaced, free of charge.
It's often difficult to see the magnetic ink. I have an annual Navigo Pass now, but when I used to use tickets, I would just fold them in half once they have been used. They work just fine if you need to use them again on the bus, for example.

I will be back in Paris on 1 July after taking the TGV from Frankfurt Hbf., will keep this Metro ticket check in mind. On 18 May I took the Paris Metro back and forth, never was checked at the destination. We'll see how chancey this check gets.