ssander

Hi...

In the past we have used the ticket booth to load the carte orange and ticket into the city onto our Navigo cards, mainly because I don't have a chip-pin card. However, I am considering getting one for our upcoming trip, to avoid the line.

My French is so-so -- do the machines have English screens? How difficult is it to get the carte orange and "complement de parcours" ticket to the city loaded?

Is there anything special I need to know? Any idiosyncrasies with the machines?

Do the machines take cash? I'll have enough cash to use it, if I have trouble with the card.

Thanks.
SS

Carpetbagger

Can't answer all of your questions but I remember that they do have an option to select English (British flag icon) and they do accept cash but only coins. We gave up on the machine and waited in line at the ticket window.

PalenQ

Is there anything special I need to know?>

I assume you have or will tell your c c issuer that you are going to be using it in France - if not IME they may block the transaction for security reasons - otherwise it should work.

Sarastro

The carte orange is long gone and you will find no reference to it whatsoever. If you have a Navigo or Navigo Découverte card, you must first have a valid fare loaded to be able to use a Complément de Parcours. For example, first purchase a zone 1-2 weekly or monthly fare, then you can purchase the complément de parcours fare into Paris for less than the normal 9.75€ (If is remember it´s something like 7.80€). Once loaded, the Complément de Parcours is valid for 3 hours so only purchase it when you are going to use it.

There are two RER B stations at CDG and I am not sure which one you want to use. The ticket kiosks at Terminal 2 will not accept magnetic strip cards but you can purchase any fare you need at the service window.

If you are using the Roissypol station, the ticket machines there should accept magnetic strip cards and screens in English are an option. The Complément de Parcours is called something like an <i>add on fare</i> or some similar nomenclature. The machines do not take cash but there is again a service window which can help you.

If the line at the service window at Terminal 2 is long as it sometimes can be, take the free rail line, CDGVAL, to Roissypol and purchase your tickets there. Roissypol is also an RER B station for trains into Paris.

Andrew

I used my Andrews Federal Credit Union Visa (chip and PIN) at a RER machine last May to buy tickets (also a few times in Paris at Metro stations). Yes, English screens. No problems with that card.

ssander

Carpetbagger...thanks for the info...that many coins are not an option...for two Navigo Semaines and two Billet complement de parcours to Paris, I'd need an extra bag just for the coins.

PalenQ...yep...we know that routine...always let our CC and ATM card issuers know...and we always take several different cards.

Sastro...Thanks for the info about the machines at Roissypole...if you're right about them taking magnetic strip cards, this should be a breeze...NOTE: on our previous trips, we've always bought the tickets at Roissypole, not in T1 (where USAir lands). Also, we know how to get to the RER...but thanks for helping...all advice from Fodorites is welcome...especially the way they number the terminals and RER stations..."quite dis-orderly". I even have a diagram I made, in case I forget:

http://www.sanderhome.com/paris_cdg_cdgval.pdf

BTW, I know it's not called a carte orange anymore, but I still tend to call it that. (We still have our real cartes oranges from 2001 as souvenirs...boy did we look young then, only 13 years ago.)

I think it's called a Navigo Semaine, now...am I right? I won't call it a carte orange at the ticket booth, if I go there.

SS

Ackislander

I have had good luck using magnetic stripe CREDIT cards throughout the Paris transportation systems. no pin required, though your mileage may vary without either of us being wrong.

At CDG, the secret is to insert the card and leave it in until you complete the entire transaction. It is the exact opposite of swiping your card at CVS or the gas station at home. It only charges you when the transaction is complete as opposed to gathering your information before allowing your transaction to begin.

Sarastro

Just to clarify, the Navigo is a card registered to a specific owner. It may be loaded with a number of different fares: weekly, monthly, yearly, and add on fares (complément de parcours). For those not living in Paris or Ile de France, there is a variation called the Navigo Découverte. The ND costs 5€, requires your supplying a 25mm x 30mm picture, requires you name be printed in the lower right corner, and will accept any fare that the regular Navigo card accepts. The primary difference between these two cards is that a Navigo card, and any valid fares it has, may be replaced if lost, stolen, or damaged. If the ND card is lost, it is replaced at the owners expense.

Ackislander - you have described how a chipped credit card operates. Most of the ticket kisoks available within the RATP network only accept the chipped end of the card. There is no means by which the magnetic strip of a card can be read. Agents at the information counters will direct you to the ticket kiosks for all ticket sales unless you explain that you only have a magnetic strip card. All of the information counters have processing equipment able to read magnetic strip cards. The service window agents will sell tickets to those only having magnetic strip cards but you must ask.

Ackislander

However, I have indeed, as recently as last year, purchased RER tickets at CDG and Metro carnets (at Rivoli-Louvre and elsewhere) with a magnetic strip card. The newest machines seemed to accept both. This is an evolving situation, of course.

ssander

Ackislander...

Were those machines (the ones that DID take a magnetic strip card) in one of the CDG terminals or in the Roissypole RER area?

SS

Christina

I haven't ever done this at CDG, but have in other major train station (like Gare de Lyon), and the machines took cash, not just credit cards. They really don't that at CDG? I'm surprised as it is such a major station. A week on the Navigo Decouvert isn't that expensive that it is difficult to use cash, I think they took bills, not just coins, also. RATP also says you can reload them in CIC and Credit Mutuel ATMs, but you'd have to be in the city for that.

YOu need a machine with an orange band at the top to use euro notes to buy tickets. If you go to the ones that are a small purple "desk" in the middle of the machine, you can't use cash. Some only take coins, they have a blue band at the top, I think.

Sarastro

Every métro station in Paris has at least one kisosk which will accept notes. That is not the case at CDG, probably because at each location there is a sales counter there from which cash purchases may be made.

nononora

I live here and have mixed luck with the magnetic strip card - literally from one week to the next. But all the macines have English screens.

If you are using cash, make sure you're standing in line for a machine that takes cash - I made the mistake last week in Gard de Lyon.

The "sales" people at the ticket windows are a mixed bag, I guess like anywhere else, the odd one is helpful, and while many are not, they won't sell you something that doesn't work.

ssander

Christina...thanks so much for that info...if I can use Euro notes [machine with orange band], I'll be fine...I'll have enough Euros with me on the flight to cover the cost of the Navigo Semaine and Tickets to Paris.

SS

Ackislander

"Were those machines (the ones that DID take a magnetic strip card) in one of the CDG terminals or in the Roissypole RER area?"

Beats me. It was 6 AM. I just followed the RER signs from wherever we emerged from Security.

On previous trips, I have bought tickets at the window.

For those who find the ticket sellers unhelpful, remember the rules of French business transactions:

Bonjour, Madame.
Bonjour, Monsieur.
Je voudrais deux billets a Gare du Nord, s'il vou plait.
Bien sur, Monsieur.
Merci, Madame. Bonne Journee.
Merci, Monsieur, Au revoir, bonne journee.

Whether my French is correct or not, it works every single time. If you do not greet people, say "please", thank them, and say goodbye, you will have a chilly reception indeed, and you may not get served at all.

ssander

OK...I think I'm ready...but one more logistical question about the machines:

How do you actually handle the Navigo card. (For instance, in some US cities, you just touch the card to the reader on the machine and that starts the process.)

Do you hold it near a reader, insert it, etc.?

Do the instructions on the machine clearly give this information? I assume I'm better off knowing it in advance.

Thanks.

SS

Sarastro

All of the ticket kiosks have English screens but they are for purchases only, they offer no usage instructions. The agent at the information window will help you assemble the pass if you ask. They also have scissors to assist in sizing your photo. You must print your name on the lower right hand portion of the card.

An ND card has NFC or is near field activated. Just place it ear to purple zone on the turnstile and you will hear the acceptance beep, then proceed through. If you really are unsure, just watch what others do.

dfourh

I don't know about CDG, but at Gare du Nord a month ago there was a change machine next to a bank of RER ticket machines that would accept 20 Euro notes et. al. and would spit out 1e and 2e coins as change, which were needed for the ticket machines - - worth looking for.

ssander

I guess I am not making myself clear...We already have Navigo Cards, and we know how to use them on buses and in the Metro.

I'm asking how to use the ticket kiosks to load the Navigo Semaine and Complément de Parcour ticket <strong>onto</strong> our cards.

Is the process pretty straightfoward, or are there any idiosyncrasies I need to be aware of.

Thanks.
SS