Paris Metro - What to do?

Rich,

I have read many accounts of people who encounter open gates, go ahead and board and then get stopped by an inspector and get ticketed for having an unvalidated ticket. Those people are usually hopping mad. I have also read reports from people who said that the inspectors either knew of the open gate or accepted their explanation. Those reports are fewer and further between but that could be a function of the fact that people will rush to the TripAdvisor, Rick Steves, Fodors etc. travel forums to vent about problems and are less likely to report on a situation that did not result in a fine. If I could not validate my ticket, I would find another entrance with a fare gate but I am risk averse. I have never seen a metro station that had only one entrance AND one fare gate. Many of the people you see going through the open gates may be traveling with passes and so will not have the same issues that you will have if they are stopped by an inspector. In November 2013, I was taking the metro with a friend who lives in a suburb of Paris. She had her monthly Navigo commuter pass and went through an open gate and she reminded me that I could not do the same thing with a ticket. I had to go through a fare gate. This was on Line 13 going to Saint Denis and would you believe we had a ticket check on the train when inspectors got on at Gare Saint-Lazare.

The people walking through probably have Navigo Passes good for a week or month of unlimited metro and bus service.

So, if there is only one fare gate, then it appears to be a tiny entrance and there will be other entrances for you to use. Walk to a larger entrance so you don't get dinged. Many decades ago I went down a tiny entrance--this was before credit cards and machines that sold tickets-- and intended to cross the platform to get to the main entrance to buy a book of tickets. Though my intentions were pure, my action illegal, so I paid out a lot of francs on the spot. I could have stopped in a tobacco shop and bought tickets or walked back over to the main entrance via the street, but I chose what I thought was the fastest way to get to a window. Dinged.

We buy a carnet of 10 tickets when we arrive to use later. They can be used on the bus as well as the Metro. If you need them in a hurry, as stated above, a tobac shop will sell you tickets. The bus will sell you a ride. You need correct change and keep the receipt til you get off. It is not worth the fine to gamble.

Thanks for all the replys and helpful tips. Just to clarify we had tickets, the ticket gate that validates your ticket and is the normal entrance was not working. In the future I will just find another entrance or even another station. Tickets are cheap and the fine would not be worth taking a chance. I saw many people just walking in so I didn't think about it. It didn't occur to me that they had passes.

Thanks to all.
Rich

Sometimes a gate will be out of service, but there is usually a sign "hors de service" or "H S".
Maybe there wasn't time to post a sign, though.

I think I would have opted to go to the next station, instead - there's always one close by or across the street.

When I was headed to the airport on the 3rd, there was some sort of communication outage in the system. The gates sort of worked but didn't take regular tickets. The ticket machines only took cash. The person who worked there was aware of it and told us to go through (we had purchased 10 euro tickets to get to CDG). The trains were running but nothing electronic was working. When we transferred to RER, it was unaffected. I guess they're on a different system. From then on, we used our ticket normally.

I'd say if something isn't working, do as the locals are doing to find a way around it. Apparently, it's not uncommon.

Taking the Paris metro, I find a fare gate that works, if the first one I get to is not working. It doesn't pay to cheat.

you have to validate NDs too or face a fine. We encountered this issue this week at La Fourche where there is one entrance. The clerk just told us to go through. We noted the time and place in case we got stopped but we didnt.

We went through an open gate in Paris, don't remember when, and when we were stopped we explained that the gate was open when we went through the guard just shrugged his shoulders and let us go. I guess we were lucky.