I've been reading a lot about how our credit cards dont work in Paris since they don't have the smart chip? My question is, I have a MC with "Pay Pass" where you can tap it or wave it over the reader inside of swiping. Is this the same? Or are there no US issued credit cards with this "smart chip"? Apparently you can't use the green and white bike rentals that are all over the city (the new program) or selected ticket vending machines without a smart chip credit card.

Any thoughts?

I don't think they are the same. I just got a new debit card from my bank that is supposed to be pay pass. I keep forgetting to try it until after I've swiped and pinned.

I think you need something with a visible RFID chip in the card. I may be wrong, I'm still trying to figure it out. In the meantime, the inconvenience without it hasn't been much.

If you have been reading carefully, you already know that the chip issue relates only to automatic train and métro tickets, gas stations, the vélos, and a few other things.

I don't think your MC will work in those places, either. But since it will work just about everywhere else, it's really not an issue.

I wouldn't worry too much about it Giulia.

Your card will work most places. Exceptions are train and metro ticket machines and autoroute toll booths.

You can still get metro tickets from a machine by using coins or bills.
We rarely saw lineups at booths with live attendants.

My Canadian M/C worked the ticket machine at the Louvre... not sure if other museums use them or not.

Rob

If you're refering to the Velib, you can check out this thread. Supposedly AMEX cards work but not others.
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35126175

It was an issue with my DH and me because we missed trains in Paris this trip. Regular ticket lines were too long.
Part of our travelling fun is going to the station, seeing what's leaving soon and hopping on!
Not possible when it takes 1/2 hour (or more) to get to a person. We don't want to spend the unnecessary extra money for the rail pass.
I called Visa about it but haven't heard back yet.
Sure would like to know how to get something useable!

I just got back from Paris Monday.

My Amex card worked everywhere: ratp ticket machines, restaurants, starbucks, and, yes, Velib.

And, no, there is no smart chip in my Amex credit card.

For the easiest way to use velib, spend the 5 euro for the Navigo Decouverte card. It makes getting your velib bike instantaneous.

The European smart chip bank cards have a visible chip on the surface.

However, there are plenty of cards with a smart chip embedded in the plastic and NOT visible -- the Navigo pass, for example, as well as the card that allows me to enter my office building and use the elevator.

How do you use the Navigo Decouverte pass for the Velib? Do you buy credits to put on the pass? We plan on buying an ND when we get into CDG. Can I charge it up with bike credit there at the RER station?

No, you have to use the Vélib machines. But the process is simplified for anybody with a Navigo.

Ok, that's good, is it pretty self explanatory? I love the idea of the Velib system, and I think it would be fun to use them at times throughout the week.

The chip on European credit cards is not an RFID chip - it has to be placed into a reader for it to be read, not just waved near a reader.

PayPass contains an embedded RFID (wireless) chip. The same technology is implemented in <i>Navigo</i> cards. The cards with the contacts on the outside are called Smartcards.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proximity_card
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartcard

&quot;<i>I called Visa about it but haven't heard back yet. Sure would like to know how to get something useable!</i>&quot;

TDudette: I'm not sure what you hope to hear back from visa. US-issued credit cards simply don't use the same technology.

Robespierre: If it's the same technology as the Navigo card then will my Paypass MC work at the Velib station?

I doubt it very much. Every implementation uses its own language - sort of like Wintel and Mac using the same chips but being fundamentally different.

French residents can buy a Navigo card and add a euro-value to the card which can be spent down. Visitors buy the Navigo <b>Decouverte</b> card, which can only be loaded with a Carte Orange transport pass value, which isn't useful for other purposes. So the visitor version, Navigo Decouverte, won't work at a Velib station, correct?

As I stated above, I purchased the Navigo Decouverte primarily for the purpose of using the velib bikes. I was not staying long enough to use the Carte Orange Hebdomaire (the weekly pass).

There are pretty good descriptions of how to use velib here:

http://www.venere.com/blog/paris-velib-bike/

and here:

http://www.slowtrav.com/france/paris/velib.htm

Hi Giulia; Just returned from France and credit cards worked in 'gas stations' and the 'autoroute toll roads'. However, on a tool road, you must make sure you pass thru a toll booth with an 'attendent'. Some did not take American Express, but they all took Visa. Gas stations are the same. You must make sure there is an 'attendent'. ENJOY Iris

Thanks janisj, but isn't VISA an international firm?

I hear what you are saying about diff technology but it is a money loser for Visa to not have its card usable any where in the world.

Anyone know if this is true in Italy as well?