swdob

we will be traveling to Paris in March for about a week. We were wondering about whether a Metro pass is worth it and how it works. Also, do the stations still have the automatic maps where you can enter your starting point and destination and it shows you the route? It has been about 25 years since I've used the Metro and can't remember this...
Thanks,
S

PalenQ

For a week you can't go wrong with the Carte Orange/Navigo week pass though i believe it's sold perhaps only for Mon-sun coverage and not say Wed-Tue

anyway a few trips a day would make it a bargain and also easy to use with the new Navigo wand it to enter the metro, buses or trams system.

www.ratp.fr - Paris metro site for details. Buy it in ticket machines in the metro that are very easy to use.

There are also one day Mobilis passes that it seems as i figured it up a few weeks ago would require about 4 metro or bus or tram rides to pay off. Again buy them in machines at stations

As Paris is eminently walkable some folks find the old carnet of 10 tickets to be the best deal - they can be shared amongst any number of folks. Again buy from the user and English friendly new ticketing machines in metro stations.

Carte Orange and Mobilis are sold in zones so unless traveling outside central Paris go for the least zones.

kerouac

You can start getting used to the idea that paper metro tickets are going to disappear permanently by about the year 2011. There was an article about it in the paper yesterday. As for the Carte Orange, it is expected to be gone by July 2008, although the RATP has been careful not to set a deadline.

With technology moving so fast, nobody is sure yet what the replacement for individual paper tickets will be, but it currently appears likely that most people will be using their mobile phones to go through the turnstiles.

seafox

Kerouc - bye bye to paper tickets-now that is interesting!

swdob- I recommend the passes, but would suggest that if you plan on a day trip out of the city that you consider whether you will loose the "value"of one day of your pass. I have at times just bought 10 packs and it has worked out to be a better value. Also, consider where you are staying and whether you are likely to walk or whether you must take METRO to get anywhere. For example, if you are in the 1st, you may only take the METRO 2 times a day....

PalenQ

Kerouac:

I thought from being in Paris recently that the Navigo thing is a London-like Oyster Card and this would be the way to replace paperless tickets easily as they largely have been in London

I may well have a misunderstanding of the Navigo thing?

Just used a metro ticket from 2001 in Paris so better use up my old tickets soon.

kerouac

The problem of eliminating paper tickets is that there are plenty of (French) people who transit through Paris once every 5 or 10 years, going from one train station to the other train station, and then perhaps back again a week or two later. That means using 2 metro tickets every 5 years, so forcing them to get a pass or put 10€ of credit on some other payment system just isn't fair.

That's what they're trying to figure out. There is absolutely no problem with people who spend a couple days or a couple weeks in the city -- they will be using whatever value they need on the payment system.

TimS

swdob,

The best pass, if any, depends on how many days you'll be in Paris, what days of the week those will be, and what zones you'll be traveling in (for example, getting from either CDG or Orly to Paris or arriving in central Paris by train).

Give us the answers to those questions and we'll be able to give you more specific advice.

ira

Hi S,

We have never used more than one carnet per person per week.

Travelnut

then ira, you aren't getting out enough.

swdob

Good to know,Ira. Our hotel is in the 6th, close to the Seine and walking is fine until we want to get up to Sacre Coeur or to Le Marais maybe. I think le carnet should be fine!
thanks

tara3056

We typically use 4 or even 5 carnets for 2 people for 1 week... so quite a bit more than Ira! A lot of it may also depend on where you're staying in the city and, of course, the weather.

My trip dates have never worked out to where a Carte Orange would have been advantageous; otherwise that probably would have been the best way for us to go.

Some of the metro stations still have the electronic maps - perhaps all do, but I only recalled seeing them in some of the stations last May.

LarryJ

A Carte Orange or Navigo weekly pass zones 1/2 (entire city and more) costs 16.30 euros or at today's exchange rate $23.96. If you bought individual tickets the cost is 1.50 euros or $2.21 and a carnet of 10 tickets is 11.10 euros or $16.32. Do the math according to how much you will use public transit. Keep in mind all tickets are good on the Metro, RER trains within the city, the 3 tramways, all the buses and the feniculaire to Montmartre. I have friends and interests at far corners of the city and generally within 2 days my Navigo pays for itself vs tickets.

Many tourists stay very close to the city center as that is where the popular tourist areas are located so a carnet of 10 works very well for them for a week.

Also as information for Americans. There are fewer and fewer Metro stations where you can buy tickets from the agent and your American credit card will not work in the ticket vending machines. The reason is that American credit cards have a magnetic strip only and European cards have an embedded micro-chip as required by the machines. It is best to buy tickets at the larger stations such as any of the big national train stations (Gare Lyon, Gare Montparness,etc) or main Metro stations such as Chatelet, St. Michel, Invalides,Concorde,Hotel De Ville etc as opposed to the smaller outlying stations. This ties in with Kerouac's comments about the advancing technology in public transit and the RATP's desire to reduce employees. Another example of this is that soon Metro Line 1 will become automated (no drivers) as is Line 14 now.

Larry J

clairobscur

Regarding the automatic maps you mentionned : they still exit in some stations (though I'm not sure they've been updated during the 25 years you're refering to), but for the most part, they went the way of the dodo...