Dumb Paris Questions
 

Do the Metro ticket machines take cash?

What's the transfer policy on city buses?

Tickets can be purchased from ticket windows inside stations or through automated ticket vending machines accepting Euro coins and smart chip credit cards.The single ticket price as of July 1, 2011 is 1,70€.

http://parisbytrain.com/tag/paris-metro/

I know you can use the same tix on the metro and the bus, but not sure of the transfer policy. The above site is very helpful!!

Good for: One metro, RER, bus, or tramway ride within Paris (zones 1-2 only), including transfers. You may transfer from the Metro to the RER, but you must use a second ticket to transfer between Metro/RER and buses or tramways. In the RER, you'll need your ticket to exit the station. Always keep your ticket in hand.
The above info referes to standard metro T tickets according to the website below:


http://goparis.about.com/od/transpor...nd_Buses_4.htm

>>Do the Metro ticket machines take cash? <<

Some are electronic card-only machines, some will take cash.
http://www.ratp.fr/fr/ratp/r_29246/dans-le-reseau-ratp/

Don't forget you can also buy a carnet of single tickets in a range of shops showing the turquoise RATP sign.

>>What's the transfer policy on city buses?<<

With the single "ticket T" that you get in a carnet, you can transfer on the same ticket metro/metro or RER and bus/bus or tram, but not metro/bus or bus/metro.
http://www.ratp.fr/fr/ratp/c_21158/ticket-t/

<B>within Paris (zones 1-2 only)</B> is the very important part

I've never seen a metro ticket machine that didn't take cash in Paris, where would that be? Some even take paper money, but I've never seen one that didn't take coins.

Don't berate yourself - these questions are legit. There have been far worse.

And if you don't have a chip-and-pin card, you may not be able to use the card only machines . . . will defer to Patrick on that.

I'm no expert, since I only have chip-and-pin cards.

It's an important point, though, since I would imagine that, like London, Paris is trying to move towards minimising the quantity of small cash payments they have to handle and the people they need to employ to handle them.

From a 2010 post http://www.fodors.com/community/profile/sarastro/

Apparently the metro tickets are good for travel on the entire metro system, regardless of zone. Travel on RER using the metro ticket is governed by the zone1-2 restrictions.

Can anyone confirm this?

Further I fo from the RATP website. I interpret this to mean that the T ticket allows travel on all metro lines and in RER within zone 1.

The t+ ticket allows you to travel on:
metro lines
RER lines (RATP and SNCF) within Paris (zone 1)
Ile-de-France bus lines (RATP and OPTILE), except Orlybus and Roissybus (see the specific conditions below for the Noctilien network and lines with special fares: 299, 350 and 351)
tramway lines (RATP and SNCF)
the Montmartre funicular
The following types of connections are possible with this ticket:
metro/metro
metro/RER and RER/RER within Paris
bus/bus (including between the RATP and OPTILE networks), bus/tram and tram/tram for 90 minutes between the first and last validation
Please note: it is not possible to make metro/bus, metro/tram, RER/bus and RER/tram connections using the same t+ ticket.

<i>Tickets can be purchased from ticket windows inside stations</i>

While the attendant can be very helpful in using a vending machine, s/he will not sell tickets if there is such a machine, at least that is the case in the Ledru-Rollin station.

Christina - agree with you that at a minimum coins are accepted. Bills may not be accepted.

American credit cards will NOT work in the automated metro ticket machines, however usually there is one that will take bills. Just look for the money slot before you start your transaction.

Thanks for the answers!

Dumb question? It took me four trips to Paris and I still can't get it right. From what I understand, you can't transfer from a metro to a bus and vice versa. I've tried this and couldn't get through the train turnstile. On a dumber note, I've transferred on a bus within the 90 minute rule on the same bus route which is a no-no, resulting in my ticket buzzing in error. But a shrug and a seat to the back of the bus is all I knew to do and no one seemed to care.

Always a fun, learning experience.

Many stations no longer have attendants.

All machines that I have seen accept cash.

The newest machines (CDG, Palais Royale, for example)accept both chip and pin and magnetic stripe cards. Older machines only accept chip and pin. Oldest machines only accept cash.

You generally have to leave your card in the machine until the entire transaction is complete because your account is charged only at the end of the transaction. Do not remove it when it 'pops out'. I think a lot of "failed" transactions happen because this isn't the way things work elsewhere.