Kansan

Forgive me if this has been posted before. I know the search function here can be unpredictable.

PARIS (AP) -- New Yorkers flying to the City of Light can now buy their Paris subway passes before leaving home.

In a trial offer through September, passengers at John F. Kennedy Airport can purchase Paris transport passes at a stand in the airport's terminal 1.

The stand offers a selection of one- to five-day passes, good on Paris' buses, metro and regional trains, a statement from Paris' transport authority said.

At US$44 (euro36), the five-day pass is cheaper in New York than in Paris, where it retails for about 50 percent more.

Discount cards to the Louvre, Orsay Museum, the chateau at Versailles, and dozens of other museums and historic sites in the Paris area are also available.

Travelnut

The "Paris Visite" passes can be bought in advance from many vendors, but they are NOT cheaper than in Paris (and are usually NOT a better buy than the weekly ticket/Carte Orange).

Zones (priced in Euros)
-----1 day---2 days---3 days---5 days

1-3--8,35---13,70----18,25----26,65
1-5--16,75--26,65----37,35----45,70
1-8--23,60--34,30----42,65----53,35

Christina

Those are just the tourist passes, of course, those are the only ones that are ever sold outside Paris because they aren't for a specific date. AAA, travel agents, lots of places sell them abroad. Now it really depends which pass that is for 36 euro, as it could indeed be a deal if it's the 5 day 5-zone Paris Visite (which is often what's quoted), as that sells for 46 euro in Paris. It could be the 8 zone one which is 54 euro for them to get that 50 pct figure.

Now, no one needs 8 zones, of course, and I imagine they know that so it's easy for them to quote that and make it sound like a great deal. If it's the five zone one, and one actually needs five zones, that would actually not be too bad a deal, depending on your stay dates (if over a weekend so Carte Orange doesn't work).

mr_go

I wonder how many people will try to use them on the IRT.

Christina

I just looked at the announcements on the RATP web site, and it says they are only selling the five zone Paris Visites in NY. So, 36 euro is not too bad for that, if you need it (but is only a 22 pct discount, not 50 pct). Some people do occasionally want a one-day Paris Visite for the airport trip if they are staying out there, and if they offer the same discount on them, that would be a good place to get them. It should then cost about 13 euro instead of 17, about the same as the five-zone Mobilis, but the Mobilis doesn't cover the airports.

Travelnut

My apologies - there is a first time for everything!

platzman

At some point, we will be able to purchase the RER/metro tickets online using a credit card and print the tickets at home.
You can already do this with the Vienna City-Airport (CAT) train.

elaine

oh, I don't think they'll let us non-Parisians do that, when they'd rather we buy passes for zones that we don't really need.

AnthonyGA

All of the Paris-Visite passes are tourist traps. You're better off just buying what you need when you arrive. For short stays, individual tickets or Mobilis passes work well; for stays of a few days or longer, the Carte Orange is the standard choice, and the most economical.

Christina

Platzman, I don't think that will happen, and I really don't see how Vienna can do that. What would prevent someone from just printing false tickets or passes? It wouldn't be that hard to do.

I know the rail tickets that you can print (PREMs) in France are completely nonrefundable and only for one trip, so they can do that more easily. Also, they have your name birthdate and credit card number, and you can be required to show ID that matches. They never could do that for metro tickets and passes, they wouldn't have the manpower.

This is an interesting point from another question that around regarding SNCF train tickets in France. Regular tickets used to be good for about 30-60 days, any time, as long as it was the same train. I remember St Cirq questioned that, as I guess she hadn't seen those. Now, I found out in my recent trip that SNCF has indeed changed that regulation (they told me it was sometime within the past year), and now such a ticket is only valid for any run on that one date only. The SNCF clerk told me the reason they changed those was because there was too much fraud, so I just don't see how they could allow people to be printing out their own metro tickets and passes on regular laser paper. Besides, you need to have that magnetic strip to get through the turnstile. So, I don't see how it is possible.

I know they have that strange system in Vienna where you just walk on and wouldn't even have to have a ticket (similar to trams in Amsterdam), but I don't think that'll work in Paris.

platzman

I just visited the Vienna CAT site. You most certainly can buy the ticket online with a major credit card and print it. There is an English language option. I'm not planning to go to Vienna and so I stopped short of giving my CC number, but it looks to be very easy. I would guess the ticket would be validated as would any other ticket upon entering the train.

Christina

oh, I guess I was misunderstanding and thought that was the regular Vienna underground system. If it's just that one run for a special airport train, then I can see how they do that. They do that in France for some train tickets, also, the nonrefundable ones. That isn't the same as printing metro tickets or weekly passes from the computer.

The point is that validating it doesn't make any difference if you can print out (or Xerox) a hundred copies of the piece of paper. Also, it would be easy to fraudulently print many of them if you were computer-savvy. That's why the SNCF ones can require you to show ID to match them rather than you validating them (which is just punching them to show they are used). If the online Vienna ones are limited to a specific time, then there's no reason to validate them if you must prepay--they have your money and that's it.

The Paris Visite tickets are passes for unlimited travel on all buses/metro/suburban trains within the time period you buy (1, 3 or 5 days), not just a ticket for a single airport train run.