Rick needs to clarify a point in his book. He says to hang on to the Metro ticket until you clear the system. The "system" needs a clarification. That means above ground. I had been keeping my used tickets and then at the end of the day I would end up with 4 or 5 of them. They tended to get in the way of good ones, so I started to discard them in a trash can. Nope. Don't do that! Keep the ticket you used until outside. We were "pounced" on by 4 metro nazis. To make a long story short... I ended up paying a 25E fine because I could not produce the used ticket. And... if you on the RER you will need that stub again to leave the RER system, glass doors will not open till you put the ticket back in again. Guess I lucked out there. I never saw a sign or notice anywhere (in english) advising of this tidbit. So now you know!
Posted by
Anaheim, CA, USA
1455 posts
Same thing with your food purchase. I remember someone telling me that you can be randomnly asked to produce your receipt. I think its to keep the shopkeepers on the up n up.
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9371 posts
What Metro are you talking about?
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
Den is talking about the Paris Metro & RER.
Posted by
Richardson, TX, USA
153 posts
This is very true. I have seen them checking for metro tickets at the St Paul station in the Marais. But it is infrequent.
I've also seen it done on the Muni in San Francisco and in the metro in Rome. The guys in Rome had Uzis. I don't want to know what happens if you don't have a ticket!
Posted by
Portlandia
3313 posts
To Michelle's comment about the same requirement for receipts from shops. That's been a law in Italy requiring you to keep your receipt until after you leave a restaurant. Their internal revenue agents sometimes check to make sure restaurants are reporting their income. I've never seen it actually happen.
But, yes, on the Paris Metro keep your ticket until you leave. Tear it so you don't confuse which tickets in your pockets are used and unused.
Posted by
Chicago, IL, USA
473 posts
To add to Doug's comments about Italy, we had several cashiers frantically wave the receipt at us when we walked away from the counter. They wanted to make sure that we had the receipt. After a few episodes of this, we remembered to not walk away once we got our change. Instead, we waited until we had our change AND our receipt.
Posted by
Gloucester, MA, USA
59 posts
This is a good rule of thumb on any metro system even here in the US. The Washington DC metro system works the same way. Boston you scan on the way in, but not out.
But always keep your ticket.
You never know when you might be stopped and checked in any city nowdays.
You can assume you are safe once you leave the station, hit the street and make it to the starbucks.
Posted by
OP
Madison, Wi, USA
107 posts
Boy, sure wish I had all this advise before using the Metro! I would of saved 25E !! By the way, asking for Carnet (Car-Nay) of tickets works great.
Just walk up to the ticket window and say "Car-Nay" and bingo 10 tickets! I suggest if you are going to do any traveling around the metro after 7pm or so to make SURE you have a couple extra tickets. Most of the windows are no longer open to buy additional tickets. We also used the RER for going into Paris from airport. Worked just fine and we got off about 3 blocks from our hotel. Don't buy the Car-Nay Metro tickets at the airport RER, (fellow there did not uderstand what i wanted). We just got 2 RER tickets. They are good for transfering into the Metro once you get off at the main transfer point. Gare du Nord. That's what I did anyway. And,,, hang onto that ticket for the transfer!!