Metro, RER weekly pass photo requirements

HI Jake, here's the dimensions: exact Navigo Decouverte photo size is 3cm tall by 2.5cm wide

I was just on a Rick Steve’s tour in Paris this fall. You don’t really have to have a special picture taken for this purpose. You can photocopy your passport picture and cut it down to size. That is what most of the people in our tour group did. There is also a photo booth in the Metro station where you can have a picture taken.

As I recall, the requirements were much looser than Passport photos, we just used some photos where our heads were a bit smaller than Passport size, and cut them to fit the space. Actually, the woman behind the counter cut and glued them.

I used a photocopy of my driver's license picture last May. It was just the right size, according to the helpful man at the Metro window who attached it to my new pass.

Why pay 5 or more Euro a head for these photos for a family when you can print them to size on your printer at home? The requirement is 25/30mm or so which you can manage by sizing a photo and printing or taking a snapshot and clipping your head out. A passport can be reduced in size on a copier and printed and used.

I'm conservative about following requirements for things like this, but I've been reading this forum for over 4 years and the question does come up fairly often. There hasn't been one single report about a photo being refused, so I don't really think a traveler needs to be concerned that his photocopied passport picture will be rejected. If it is, he will have the fall-back option of using the photo booth. 5 euros is not the same as free, and there are much more interesting ways to spend 5 euros.

It is simpler to bring your own photos and costs nothing; for a family of four -- buying them in the station if there is a machine is 20 Euro -- for nothing. Obviously useful if people forget, but people reading this can be prepared.

The weekly Navigo Découverte card was a tremendous convenience and cost savings. Just photocopy your driver's license photo. That was the advice given to me here and I wholeheartedly want to pass that on too.

I arrived at the ticket window with two options, an extra passport photo and a photocopy of my drivers license picture. The clerk chose the photocopy of the drivers license picture for the card.......

stupid question: does this photo have to be a color copy?

No. B&W on regular paper from your printer is just fine.

If some of your family don't have photo ID, copy the my passport photo using the reduction option to size it down.