Please help on our way to Paris in my area the Metro is our local Bus transportation. Please tell me is the RER for the underground and the Metro bus lines. Thank you

No. RER and metro are both underground. I hope I understood what you wrote as I tried reading it three times due to lack of punctuation.

The Paris metro is a railway below street level, similar to the London undergound or the New York subway. The RER is a more recent rail network which runs deeper underground below central Paris, is faster because it has fewer stops and goes out beyond the city into the suburbs. Paris also has bus services and one or two tram lines.

www.ratp.fr - official site of Paris Metropolitan, i.e. metro system and also has info on the near Ruseau (sp?) Express Regional or RER. Inside Paris proper metro tickets are good for one journey anywhere regardless of distance (unlike London Underground where fares vary as to distance); metro tickets are good on RER lines in Paris and you can interchange with metro and RER on one ticket. But to go outside Paris central fares on RER vary as to distance. The only RER lines outside Paris a typical tourist might ride would be RER C to Versailles or Orly Airport or RER B to Roissy, or CDG Airport.
Carte Orange is a weekly pass good on metro, RER and buses, sold by zones, and is absolute bargain - check www.ratp.fr for details

Thank you so much. Sorry for the lack of puncuation. I have 2 more questions regarding transporation. If we were to travel to Dijon would it be on the RER? Would the pass be the way to go? The other question is I went to the RATP web site and tried to map routes-bus, metro & walking each time I entered my Apt. address and then the attraction or specific location it comes back and tells me to edit, but not sure what/how to edit. Any idea?

Thanks again

Trains to Dijon leave from the Gare de Lyon, one of the train stations.

The best way to plan metro and walking routes is to get a good map that shows the metro stations [by name] and has a map of the system. I prefer the Paris Mapguide, an inexpensive purchase from amazon. Bus lines are shown also.

Each numbered metro line has a name at either end--that's how you determine the direction of travel when you are in the system.

Because the RER is just for the local regional suburban trains, you can't use the RER to go outside the immediate Paris environs and suburbs. Dijon is much too far away for the RER to service.

All métro and some walking routes are shown on this map, which is available on paper free at RATP ticketing outlets:

http://www.ratp.info/orienter/f_plan...eur&fm=pdf

Bus routes are here:

http://www.ratp.info/orienter/f_plan...eur&fm=pdf

What are the beginning and end points you want RATP to route for you?

I remember how confused I was about this the first time I visited France.

Metro = subway in Paris, runs mostly underground

RER = also runs underground for the most part in the city limits, but service area extends beyond the city limits into the regional suburbs.

Bus in Paris = bus. There are several routes and each stop is named and usually posts the lines that stop there and the schedule for it/them. After hours when service is reduced there are special bus lines called "Noctilien" which run all night long.

Metro, RER and bus are operated by RATP www.ratp.fr

Trains that go between cities are run by SNCF (french national railroad, www.sncf.fr ) and they operate from a train station called "gare" as in Gare du Nord, Gare de l'Est, Gare de Lyon, Gare St Lazare, Gare d'Austerlitz and Gare Montparnasse. These stations are named for the destinations they serve - e.g., at Gare du Nord trains arrive from and depart to places north of Paris.

Hope this helps

Hi CF,

Metro is the subway system in Paris

RER is a regional commuter train in the environs of Paris

To get to Dijon you take the national train - www.voyages-sncf.com

Under "depart" you will see "address", "station" and "place".

If it is an address you must enter "Paris" as in "61 rue Bonaparte, Paris".

If you want a metro or bus stop, you click "station".

If you want an attraction, click "place", eg, place Vendome

just a note to the above nice summary -- all the RER lines are NOT run by RATP. Many of them are run by SNCF, perhaps even the majority. Some of the lines are entirely run by SNCF (line C and E), and some of them are run partly by RATP within Paris central, and SNCF elsewhere (like line B beyond Gare du Nord to the north). That's one reason why when SNCF strikes, it can affect RER lines.

... and the RER-SNCF has also saved me a few times when the RATP was on strike. It is very good to know which is which whenever the RATP or the SNCF is on strike, and -- incredibly -- even most Parisians are incapable of telling the difference.

I've always understood that RER C was run by both the ratp and sncf - Transilien i believe is what the joint operation is called and also involves the departements involved. The fact that many RER lines are converted sncf banlieue (suburbs) service led to both having some kind of jurisdiction.

Christina - this is a small point but why do you think that sncf solely controls C and E - i really don't know but it flies in the face of everything i've heard - i assume you're right because you always are but before i correct my understanding what do you base this on? Sincerely.

Hi

My wife and I went to Paris in April and we used the RER B line to get into Paris and from there we switched to the metro to get to the hotel. Which metro line to use depends on where your hotel is located I have posted a trip report with some links and pictures from our trip on my homepage http://www.gardkarlsen.com/Paris_France.htm

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

RER C, RER D and RER E are exclusively SNCF. RER A is RATP and RER Bis RATP south of Gare du Nord and SNCF north of Gare du Nord. You will see the train change driver at Gare du Nord if you pay attention.

Kerouac and Christina - thanks for my edification - then i assume railpasses valid in France are good on all these lines - the info that comes with a France Pass for example says only B north of Gare du Nord and C as being valid with railpasses. I have used one on E between Hausmann area and Magenta however so maybe that is why. I'll have to try D as it's the only one that runs thru the heart of Paris - if coming from CDG on a pass currently i can only go to Gare du Nord gratis, but maybe i can go all the way to Gare de Lyon.

But though sncf operated maybe they don't accept passes on E and D perhaps.

Lines C and D are great when there's an RATP strike because they make a big cross through the center of Paris and help to get me around as needed (although you have to walk from Saint Michel to Châtelet to connect the 2).

kerouac - do you have an update on whether C is closed currently somewhere in Paris and if so for how long? Is there a bus substitution if closed. Merci.

Line C often closes for part of the summer for rail renovation. It is open now. You can get full information from the suburban SNCF site at www.transilien.com but I'm pretty sure it's only in French.