Has anyone heard of this yet?

&quot;NAVIGO passes can be customized for any demographic group, including adult commuters, students, civil servants, agents of the RATP, persons on public assistance, etc. Implemented since October 2001 to replace the Carte Int&eacute;grale (annual passes for adult commuters), the recharcheable card was also made available in September 2002 to students eligible for the Imagine &quot;R&quot; passes. <b>Gradually, its implementation will be phased in (between 2003-2005) to include other groups, such as Carte Orange, Mobilis, Paris Visite, and even the 10-ticket carnets.&quot;</b>

http://www.discoverfrance.net/France...is_metro.shtml

Here's another mention:

www.humanite.presse.fr/ journal/2003-10-18/2003-10-18-380917
<u>The millionth Navigo master key</u>
(google translation)
C'est a student in communication which s'est considering giving Wednesday the millionth smart card of the system of telebillettic which made its appearance here two years on networks the RATP and the SNCF Island-of-France. Nearly 380 000 owners of this master key are owners of l'abonnement integral (annual orange Chart), 290 000 are high-school pupils and apprentices users of the chart Imagine R and a little more than 300 000 are titular students of this same chart Imagine R. This system will be introduced on buses the RATP as of the end of this month and will be generalized during the 1st quarter 2004. <b>In September 2004, the monthly and weekly orange Charts (two d'utilisateurs million) will take in their turn the form of this master key (<i>smart card</i whose lusage will also spread with the Optil network.</b>

It doesn't look like anyone has responded on this, but have you heard anything else? I'm going to be in Paris for a month in December and am wondering if this might affect me?

I think this is an annual pass based on further reading/stumbling around...
But I'm pretty sure there is a Carte Orange that is good for a month, but it's probably a 'calendar month'. The alternative is to use a Carte Orange for each week you are there - valid Mon-Sun.
At any rate, all of the bolded passes/tickets I listed in the first note are still valid choices.

It doesn't look like they're pushing it very hard. The only mention of <i>Navigo</i> I could find at the RATP site is this:

<b>http://www.ratp.fr/corpo/service/navigo.html</b>

Yes, there definitely is a <i>Carte Orange</i> valid for one calendar month. It can be purchased from the 20th of the preceding month to the 19th of the month it's valid.

<b>http://www.citefutee.com/informer/grand_public.php</b>

It's been deployed and people have them. Its a permenant card that you wave over the turnstile to enter. I have seen women leave it in their purse and they just drag their purse over the turnstile.

At this point it is still only for the annual passes so it wont affect anyone.

This is the Paris equivalent of the London 'Oyster' card - a &quot;stored value&quot; electronic card to replace paper ones, which is very useful for permanent residents who need to renew their passes regularly.

Whether this means the withdrawal of paper cards for visitors who only need short-term passes is another question - I wouldn't have thought any transport authority would gain anything by doing so.

No, it's true there has been a recent offensive to push Navigo among local commuters (the main argument being that you basically pay 10 months'worth and you travel for the whole year, and if you lose the coupon or whatever stands for it RATP replaces it free of charge). In main stations, one of the turnstiles is now &quot;Navigo only&quot;. But don't worry about the other paper options, they are there to stay, and nobody is talking about phasing them out.

Thanks Travelnut and Robespierre,

the information that I had read on the monthly Carte Orange was that you could only buy it during the first few days of the month, and since I'm arriving on the 7th, I thought I was out of luck!

ttt
I posted another message today, referencing a comment on msgboard at Tripadvisor...

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34575726

I have a Navigo card, in fact (which expired in October 2004). They are quite useful when I was in a rush getting somewhere. Right now, I believe that the Navigo card is only available for the Carte Imagine R (youth yearly pass), and the Carte Integrale (adult yearly pass). There was a short pilot program where they sold Carte Oranges as Navigo passes in the XII arrondissement, but I'm not sure if they are still for sale. The Carte Oranges should be Navigos this September or October, I believe, but I'm not 100% sure. There are Navigo &quot;validators&quot; on almost every bus line in the centre and at every heavy rail station.

San Francisco is coming out with TransLink, a new smartcard, in late 2005.

TransitBuddie, do you know if tourists will have difficulty obtaining a Navigo (unless standard Carte Orange will continue to be offered)...?

I belive that the Navigo pass at this moment is only available for the Carte Imagine R and the Carte Integrale (yearly passes). I am not quite sure about when the Carte Orange is going to come out with the Navigo (they released a small pilot program, but I'm not sure if it's still available). It would be hard to get a Navigo pass unless you're willing to buy a yearly pass.

What I'm trying to figure out is - if the Carte Orange weekly pass DOES become a Navigo scan-pass, will tourists still be able to buy it? Or will all Navigo passes be for residents only? (meaning we tourists will be stuck with Paris Visite passes, or maybe a Mobilis)...

I believe that the Carte Orange Hebdomadere (weekly) will also be available for tourist, but I'm not 100% sure. The Carte Oranges is right now available for tourist, and I don't see why the new ones wouldn't. I can't find the article about the pilot program, but if I find it, I'll definitely post it. Right now, to get the Carte Orange, one must have a photocard with name, address, and signature. I think the address could be an address of a hotel, but I will have to check with the RATP at www.ratp.fr. If it can be an address of a hotel, I would be 99% sure that the Navigo pass will be available for tourists.

I've never had to provide an address to buy a Carte Orange. I just asked for it, gave them a photo, and they returned the package to me... well,hopefully it will continue to be available... Thanks!

The address part was on the back of the card, so I don't think there will be a problem. People were &quot;supposed&quot; to fill in the blanks on the back of the card, but no one does.

Just found out from my friend in Paris that the Carte Oranges have just become the Navigo smart cards. I will ask her what the requirements are to obtain one of these cards.

They still offer the classic paper ticket in addition to the Navigo card. It will be a while before the Navigo Carte Orange is available to tourists. In the mean time they can keep buying the standard paper ticket.