Paris Passé Navigo Purchase Challenge - Part Deux

I hope this link answers your questions. Note that the pass runs from Monday to Sunday so it might not pay to get one if you activate it on a different day.

Nothing could have been easier when we bought ours (at Gare du Nord) last month. We just went to the ticket window at the RER station and told the teller we wanted to buy one for each of us for that week. It's important that you have your photo(s), properly sized, with you. We gave her the photos and she put the kit together for us. We paid by credit card. Ours is a true PIN card, but I believe American credit cards will work at the ticket windows as well. Don't forget to sign your card.

We just made copies of our driver's licenses and cut out the pictures. They were the right size. We purchased of Navigo kits at the CDG RER ticket office. We put them together on our own. Very easy to do. It was wonderful to not have to worry about any trasit tickets (other than the RER Cdg to downtown) for a week in Paris.

Becky,

• The kits you purchased at the RER office: did you have to buy them from a live person? If you purchased them through a machine, what kind of machine was it and what form of payment did the machine accept?

You purchase them at the machines and get a receipt but you have to obtain the kits from a person. Info clerks on the metro do not sell things, but they will give you the kit with a receipt and they CAN charge the card with a credit card if you have difficulties charging it on the machine or will come and show you how to charge it on the machine. At RER stations you might as well just buy it from the ticket clerk and have her charge it for the week at the same time. Each card is separately done i.e. you can't buy and charge two cards at once. They will do as many credit card transactions as necessary. If there is no line, the clerk will sometimes put it together for you. Never use it without assembling it; that will be the time you get checked and fined if you haven't.

The normal procedure is buy kit on machine; take receipt to window and get kit; assemble kit; charge the kit for the week or month on the machine by putting it on the swirly patch, selecting the appropriate charge, putting your money or credit card in. The machines take US chip/sig cards; just ignore the request for a pin and proceed. We have done it with month long charges so whatever the Euro limit is for use of these cards in machines, it is at least 76 Euro.

janettravels44,

You are a lifesaver! You answered questions I didn't anticipate asking. I was going to pick up kits for my wife and kid and put them together at the hotel.

You CAN just buy a bunch of kits and put them together at the hotel; I have done that when my son, son in law and daughter were all visiting us in Paris. I bought the kits, had them charged, and then took them home and put them together. They can charge them for the week without them being assembled (which is why it is critical to assemble before use -- you COULD use them on the turnstile while they are not assembled, but if you got checked you would not have a valid pass and be fined. If you do this, it is easiest to do it at a ticket window of the RER where a clerk will charge each one up for you and then you can take them for assembly later.

You should look for the "VENTE" sign above the booth. If you don't see it, the agent cannot perform the services you want.

Well information clerks can also provide the kits, and can charge them with a credit card. they normally direct you to the machine, but if you have difficulties or your card doesn't work, they can and will sell you the card and charge it up with a credit card. I have done it. And even if you do everything on the machine, you still have to get the kit from a person and that person on the metro will be at the information window since they have pretty much eliminated the Vendor windows.

You could pick up and assemble the kits for other people, but each card needs their signature before you stick it all together.
It won’t come apart after sticking it, so unless you’re good at forging........?

The card should not be signed; the name should be printed and thus whoever picks up the kits can finish assembling them for others as long as s/he writes their name clearly on the card.

The Pass Navigo zones 1—5 cost 22.80€ plus the cost of a rechargeable card (about 5€). A 7 day pass may be used in RER, Metro, busses, and even the Montmartre funicular and it requires just a simple swipe. The pass is very helpful and cost effective if the RER is used a lot - if instance it may be used to go to Versailles. However, this pass is only valid from a Monday (first day it can be used) to a Sunday. So, if you arrive on a Friday or a Saturday, you will have to buy extra passes for those two days. A small ID photo is required for this pass. You may bring your own photo. Just print it off on your computer or even cut it out of a photo print which is what I did. The official size is 25/30mm -- close is good enough,and no fancy paper required. Some people print copies of driver licenses or from photo files and cut out the photos for Navigo cards. That way they don’t have to use photo booths. I had heard that the pass was designed for citizens and that getting one might be difficult, but we had no problem getting ours at rail stations. We had a little problem at one station using ours when a person in our group did not properly swipe their card and quickly enter the gate—the gate did not let them through. Upon trying again, they were not allowed in. This is done to prevent multiple uses of a pass. We went to a tick booth and were given a ticket for the gate. We learned how to properly swipe the card and quickly enter the gate from then on. This is the site with details: https://parisbytrain.com/paris-train-metro-week-pass-navigo-decouverte/

Hi All,

Thank you for all your wonderful advice on this subject. I just came back from my trip and it was filled with mishaps but I have to say that the purchase and use of the Navigo was a highlight of what went right.

We ended up arriving Paris via Gare de Nord. We found the information booth and purchased the Navigo pass. We gave the attendant our pictures, which were extra passport shots we had, and she assembled them and charged our US credit card.

We went to Versailles and Disneyland with it as well so I can't understate the convenience.

Now I have to rest after walking 10 miles a day for a week.

Do children under 12 need one of their own if parents have one? If so, is the process and fee the same as adults?

Kate, we paid full price for our 8 year old. I brought passport pictures, though others have mentioned that you don't need to bring high quality prints, and went to the Gare Du Norde station (down one floor) to get them. The person working the booth took care of everything for us.

Anyone 4 years of age and up pays to travel on public transport. A 12 year old pays adult fares regardless. Children 4-9 pay half price on tickets, but there is no Navigo Decouverte for children as it is not a tourist product. It is designed for people who work in the Ile de France and for local residents who do not wish to have their transport tracked and registered; locals have Navigo passes and there are special passes for kids at lower cost and for students, but these are not available to non-residents. The ND is so cheap that it is a better deal than the 5 day Paris Visite for children 4-11; it is also stable (doesn't demagnetize) and convenient. The only drawback for tourists is that it runs Mon-Sun or for a calendar month -- great if it fits your dates, but not so great if your trip is from Friday to Weds.

NDs are not registered. No one takes your name, no one can tell where you go. You don't have to have an address to buy one or any ID. If you lose it, you are out of luck as there is no registry of you in the system. The ND was designed for people visiting Paris to work and for locals who don't want their travel cards registered. The ND is not 'for tourists' but can be purchased by tourists. It is not advertised on tourist sites of the transport system. Those sites try to sell the Visite which is much more expensive, but is flexible (it can be bought for any sequence of days up to 5) and there is a cheaper version for children 11 and under. The ordinary Navigo is provided residents for free (no 5 Euro fee) can be replaced if stolen or lost and there are versions for children and seniors unlike the ND.

Thanks Mark & Janet. Just what I needed to know:)

My "Pass Navigo Annuel" is not signed, by the way.
There might be changes on the way - specifically an increase in prices.

Funny, I found an article in Le Figaro from July (plus a couple of other articles from other sources) saying that the Paris area transport authority had announced it was going to institute a DAILY Navigo as of . . .Jan 1, 2018. A "Passe Navigo Jour." But a search doesn't bring up any such beast on the RATP website!

So we'll see if this materializes. If it does, they say the price will be 7.50 euros for zones 1-2, and 10 euros for 3 zones.