Paris Public Transportation System

Paris has a superb public transportation system that comprises three components - subways, trains, and buses (http://goparis.about.com/od/transportation/ss/Metro_and_Buses.htm). The system is extensive, clean, and efficient. It is also heavily used. Among its shortcomings are lack of air-conditioning and poor access for the disabled.

The subway system, known as the Metro, has 16 lines with 384 stops at 300 stations. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_M%C3%A9tro) It carries 4.5 million passengers per day. The first line began operation in 1900.

The system has six zones, with zone 1 covering the center of the city and zones 1- 6 covering the entire system. Most of the major attractions are in zones 1 and 2.

The Paris Metro system

Most of the subway stations have only stairs. A few have escalators and at least one critical one has an elevator. The Place Monge Station, which we used a number of times, has about 100 steps from the platform level to street level. The station with the elevator, Abbesses, has over 200 stairs up to street level.

I think the large number of stairs Parisians use is one reason one sees far fewer obese people than in the U.S.

One important thing to keep in mind about Paris Metro subway cars is that the doors do not open automatically. On the outside and inside ofthe center of  each subway car door is a either green button or a handle. To open the door, you press the button or lift up on the handle. It’s very easy.

I planned to use the subways quite a bit on this trip, as I had on previous trips.

There are many different types of tickets and passes offered by RATP, the government-owned organization that operates the subways, buses, and most of the local trains in Paris and its suburbs. The tickets and passes are all good on both subways and buses. Some of the types of tickets and passes are:

1. Individual tickets. They cost €1.70 (about $2.45 each). You do not need to purchase new tickets when you transfer from one subway line to another.

2. Carnet - a packet of 10 tickets. A carnet costs €12 (about $17.28 or $1.73 per ticket.  I think the carnet is the best bet for most visitors.

3. Paris Visite - these passes allow for unlimited travel in zones 1-3 or 1-6, depending on which one you purchase. They are good for 1, 2, 3, or 5 consecutive days. Validity starts at 5:30 am on the first day and ends at 5:30 am of the day following the last day of the ticket. A one-day adult pass for zones 1-3 costs €9.30. For zones 1-6, the cost is €19.60. There are discount passes for children 4-11. I think it is very hard to save money with these tickets unless you plan to take a very large number of separate subway rides. See http://www.ratp.fr/en/ratp/c_21894/paris-visite/ for complete details.

4. Navigo Decouverte. This pass also allows unlimited use. They are valid for one week, one month, or one year. Prices vary depending on zone. I planned to purchase ours for zones 1-2. The passes become valid at midnight in the morning of the first day and end at midnight on the night of the last day. The one week passes become valid from midnight on Monday morning until midnight Sunday night. Consequently, you are only likely to save money if you arrive on Monday and stay for at least one week.  Using the pass is very simple - you pass it above a sensor at any turnstile going into the inner part of a metro station. If you lose the pass, you have to buy a new one or buy some other type of ticket.

I wanted to buy Navigo Decouverte passes for the three of us because we would be arriving at mid-day on Monday.  For the last full day of the visit, I planned to buy a carnet.

There are two parts to the Navigo Decouverte - the physical pass, which costs €5. It has the user’s picture and signature. It is called a “Bon.” Included with the Bon is a heavy duty plastic holder. The second part is an amount of money that you pay to validate the card for a period of time - a week, a month, or a year.  That amount of money is called a “forfait.” A forfait for a week is called a “forfait semaine.” It costs €18.35. When the week (or month or year) expires, you can load another forfait onto the card. Both parts of the card can be purchased at any metro station. The photos that are put on the card are small - 1&1/4 inches high by 1 inch wide (3 cm x 2.5 cm) pictures that are head/face pictures. You can either crop a photo on your computer or take one at a booth at the station for about €4. However, if you pay the €4 for the photo, you will probably not save money by buying the pass. I cropped pictures on my home computer. They worked just fine.

  

If you want to purchase a Bon and a weekly pass, show the ticket seller the following words:

“Je voudrais acheter:

1. Un bon pour passe Découverte

2. Un forfait semaine”

(I would like to purchase:

1. A bon for a Decouverte pass

2. A weekly forfait.)

Make sure you start the conversation by saying, “Bonjour.” If you want to be even more polite and get better service, after saying “bonjour,” say, “Excusez moi de vous deranger.” (Pronounce it  “eks-ku-zay mwa duh voo day-rahn-zhay.” The “zh” is like the English “s” in the word “pleasure.” It means, “Excuse me for troubling you.”)

We purchased our passes at the Place Monge metro station. The only clerk working at the station was a lady who was very sweet and very helpful. I told her I wanted to purchase three of the passes. I did not know that the name of the physical pass was called a “bon.” Once I told her what I wanted, she did the following:

1. She closed her ticket window and came out of the ticket booth. She led us to a machine and showed us how to buy a bon. She had each of us purchase our own bon. She took us each one of us, including my grandchildren, through the process.

2. She went back inside the ticket booth and attached to each bon a photo I had given her.

3. She closed the booth again and took us back to the ticket machines. There she showed each one of us how to load a weekly pass onto our bon.

For each step in the process, I used euro cash rather than my credit card.

We took a total of 21 subway rides each during the week the Navigo Decouvertes were valid, so we probably only save a few Euros. However, it was nice to go through the experience and to have the passes to quickly enter the stations. Moreover, if we return to Paris, we will not have to repurchase the bons, just the forfaits, so the savings would be greater.

On the last full day of the trip, I purchased a carnet of 10 tickets at a machine at the Cardinal Lemoine metro station. I tried to use my credit card, but it did not work. That may be because French credit cards have a computer chip rather than a magnetic strip like American credit cards. I ended up using Euro cash.

During this visit, we took 23 subway trips. Many of those trips involved two subway lines. We used 9 subway lines  - 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, and 14. We used at least 19 different stations. We also made two train trips - one to Versailles and one to Fontainebleau.

Navigo Decouverte Pass from the RATP web site