We are going to Paris in three weeks and are having trouble getting details on how the Paris subway works. I know tickets are E1.9/ticket and 14.9E for a book of ten tickets, however, it's not clear is a ticket good from end to end (with subway changes in between) or is it a day pass, or do you have to have a new ticket everytime you get on the subway?
thanks for any help
Rick Hanes
The tickets are good for one trip by metro, from the moment you enter the system to the moment you leave, no matter how many times you change. Not a day pass, not a timed ticket. The same applies for buses (it's a bit more subtle, here a 90 minute timing applies), but you can't use the same ticket for a trip that combines metro and bus, you need two.
The single ride ticket is called the t+. The cost is as you have said.
The t+ is valid on the tramway, bus, funicular, and métro. You may also use it on the RER (regional train) but for travel no farther than zone 1 or the city limits of Paris. It is incumbent upon the user to know the ticket´s RER limit and disembark before the train takes him beyond the validity of his ticket. Transfers are permitted bus to bus and RER/métro to métro/RER (within the stated RER distance restrictions). The ticket t+ is valid anywhere on the métro. A métro map is available here.
Métro usage is determined by each line´s endpoint indicating direction of travel. Tickets must be kept until exiting the bus or rail network at which time it is best to discard used tickets to preclude mixing them with unused tickets. There are garbage bins available at exits to properly dispose of used tickets.
Not a day pass, not a timed ticket.
I hesitate to mention this as it is a detail but the ticket t+ does have a time limit when using it in the métro. Métro travel must be completed within two hours of a tickets initial validation.
The same applies for buses (it's a bit more subtle, here a 90 minute timing applies)
The 90 minute limit for buses starts when a ticket is first validated and allows connections to be made during a 90 minute time frame. It is a boarding limit only, there is no maximum time validity for bus travel. Bus connections must allow for continued travel in the same general direction. You may not reboard a bus with the same route number. There are also special rules for night buses and airport buses.
At your option, you may purchase a Navigo Easy card (2€) and load your tickets electronically. This card may also be simultaneously loaded with one of the day pass options (Navigo Jour or Mobilis).
As noted, they are single use tickets...Ten tickets is a good deal BUT... I discovered that the magnetic stripes on them are very sensitive...keep them in a pocket away from any magnetic source -like the latch on my smart phone case....
Single-fare paper tickets are on the way out, replaced by the NavigoEasy electronic card. Pay a couple of euros for the permanent card, and then pay for the 10 fares that used to come as a carnet package of paper. Same cost as the old carnet. Recharge at a machine by credit card. The paper tickets still work and some stations may still sell them, but the card is easier to use and much harder to misplace.
https://parisbytrain.com/navigo-easy/
The Navigo easy has a big downside, that you can't share it, so I would stick with paper tickets until they are phased out - not before the end of next year, mid 2021 even.
The best choice if you will be there several days that fall between Mon-Sun of one week is the Navigo Decouverte pass which will take you anywhere in the Ile de France for 22.80 for the week including CDG and Disney.
If that isn't a fit for your visit -- it is shorter than 4 or 5 days or laps over the weekend, then the Easy is a good choice if you will be there for several days. It is supposed to be less subject to demagnetization than the individual tickets which are quite sensitive. My travel coat has magnetic closures on the pockets so in Paris my husband handles our individual tickets when we use them. Being caught after entry into the metro with a demagnetized ticket will net you a 50 Euro fine i.e. the fine for not having a valid ticket.
The big drawback of the Easy is that you cannot share the rides and when we use carnet of ordinary t+ tickets it is always for short periods when we need just 4 or 5 tickets each and so this system is not progress for our needs.
The point about the fine for demagnetized ticket isn't accurate: if your ticket is demagnetized you won't be able to use it through the turnstile, so you go to the booth and have it changed. And once you're in, with a stamped ticket that you keep until you exit, you're good.
Thank you all for this info. Where can you buy the NavigoEasy card? Can it be purchased onsite from an automated machine, or must we find a kiosk with staff selling it? I personally like having a reloadable card.
So I just read on "Paris Info" you must have passport picture for Navigo Pass. As we tend to walk most places we realize there are 2 destinations that may require the metro and there is always the case of tired feet. We will be in Paris for 5 days but the 5 day or even the 2 day pass is most likely more than we need. Am hoping paper passes still available when we arrive in 3 weeks!
Ellen: you need a picture for the Pass Navigo which is used to load a 7 day (or longer) pass. You do not need a picture for the Navigo Easy, the new system for single tickets and "packs" of 10 tickets.
So, if you can't get single tickets, you can get a Navigo Easy and load tickets on it without needing a photo.
It is confusing that they are using the same name of "Navigo" for two separate systems.
The inspectors read the ticket with an electronic device, they don't examine and ink stamp and many tickets are not so stamped. I would hope that the ticket demagnetized after entry would be readable, but I am not sure it is.
And yes the use of the Navigo terminology for a pass only for residents, a pass usable by anyone and then for something on which you cannot load weekly passes and which doesn't even need a name much less a picture i.e. the Easy is a major blunder and will confuse tourists endlessly.
Navigo or Navigo Découverte cards need pictures and the owner´s name because they are nontransferable. Navigo Easy cards are transferable and do not need pictures or a name.
The Navigo Découverte or Easy are purchased at a kiosk, the receipt is exchanged at the service window for the actual card.
If you are at an RER station (and a few métro stations), there are sales windows at which cards may be purchased directly without a kiosk receipt.
We purchased 2 carnets of ten (easy to do with a credit card at the first metro station you use), and we had a few left over. Added them to our tip money for the hotel maid. Can't see the sights inside a tunnel ;)
We purchased 2 carnets of ten
All carnets have 10 tickets, that´s the definition of the word. However, a carnet itself is not a ticket.
We used the Navigo Découverte two weeks ago and could not have been more pleased with it. Super easy!!
(I miss Paris!)
car·net
/kärˈnā/
noun
1. a book of tickets for use on public transport in some countries.
2. a customs permit allowing a motor vehicle to be taken across an international border for a limited period.
“Added them to our tip money for the hotel maid.”
tradi, that’s a brilliant idea, never thought of doing that!
“a book of tickets”
Problem is, on the Paris Mêtro, a carnet is not a “book” of tickets - a carnet is just 10 single, unattached, tickets.
It is okay to do tip the maid this way I suppose, but as a resident working in Paris, she almost certainly has a Navigo for her travel needs as she probably has to travel a good ways from out of Paris to work so she is unlikely to use metro tickets -- she might use them for family guests or something.
