End of the line for Paris’ iconic metro ticket

[Adlington]

Euronews.com says:

All good things must end, and such is the fate of Paris’ iconic metro ticket.

After 120 years of loyal service, the small rectangular card is being phased out, ushering in a contactless future for the city’s public transportation.

The plan to get rid of the metro ticket has been in the works for years, and was originally slated for 2021. But the Covid-19 pandemic coupled with a global shortage of microchips forced Ile-de-France Mobilites, which operates the metro’s ticketing system, to postpone.

The video in the page quote above is a bit more precise: 10-ticket carnets are no longer available, but single paper tickets "at a premium cost" will survice another year.

 

[dutchflyer]

Has indeed been announced since many years. The catch is that even for a single (f.e. transit between 2 stations) you first will need to also buy a chipcard (cost 2€) and then load the ticket on it. That means doubling the fare (currently 1,90). However, with the chipcard transfers from metro to local bus will be available. I have not seen any announcement that they will also facilitate payment by direct contactless bankcards.
The nr of machines still giving you the chance to buy the old-style cardboard ticket is minimal and one has to look around to find one surviving.

 

[BahrainLad]

Does anyone know what the simplest solution for semi-regular visitors to Paris is now?

For the last 20 years I have bought carnet of 10 tickets from St Pancras departure lounge (when they still sold them) and the Eurostar buffet car (most recently in March this year) which has proven to be an excellent strategy, bypassing the normally horrendous queues outside the entrance to line 4 at Gare du Nord.

What do I do now? Can I get a smart card from Eurostar? Or in advance of arrival at GdN? Can it be topped up at any Metro station? Can I keep it for an extended period between visits (I currently have cards for Hong Kong, Madrid, Sydney and a couple of other places in my travel wallet and they are all pretty much permanent unlike Lisbon which are temporary iirc although they can be topped up)?

I noticed NYC now allow you just to tap into the subway with contactless/your Apple Watch which was excellent when I visited in May.

 

[station_road]

This link suggests you can buy single tickets using a mobile phone app, but I haven't tried it

https://www.ratp.fr/en/titres-sur-telephone

The RATP app enables you to purchase your t+ tickets and Navigo monthly and weekly travel passes from your phone whenever and wherever you want!

Purchase your ticket
Once you've installed the feature you can purchase tickets from your phone and, depending on your choice, load them:

• Onto your Navigo travel pass (by holding your travel pass to the back of your phone)
• Or onto your phone (available on compatible phones)

 

[busestrains]

So the single paper tickets will be fully withdrawn after another year? What exactly will replace that? Will it be smartcards only so no option for paper tickets at all? If so i presume the TVMs and ticket offices will sell the smartcards?

Also are they discontinuing the single tickets that are available to buy with cash from bus drivers and allow one single bus journey only (which cost EUR2.00 instead of EUR1.90 so only EUR0.10 extra) as these still appear to be available now? Will these continue to be available in the future?

 

[rg177]

The phone tickets require the "Ticket sans Contact" app which has pretty appalling reviews on Google Play as it's only compatible with Samsung phones.

While I own a Samsung, I couldn't be bothered with the faff a couple of weeks ago and just paid for a good old cardboard ticket.

 

[Revilo]

The 10-ticket carnets in physical form are still available in practice; we bought two lots over the past two days from two different stations. Very handy to buy and share between us, rather than each having to get and pay for an Oyster-style card. Though if they had full contactless for credit cards, like the tube, we would probably have used that.

 

[Tester]

Has any date been mentioned for the end of use of card mètro tickets, i.e. the point at which the barrier readers may be taken out of service? The articles I have seen are silent on this point.

Like no doubt many, I have a fair stock of them and it would be handy to know.

 

[Feuillesmortes]

i presume the TVMs and ticket offices will sell the smartcards?

The Navigo Découverte pass is only available at ticket windows at the moment, so the substantial queues underneath main stations are likely to get worse.

Environmentally, replacing paper tickets with plastic chipcards, doesn't seem too great an idea in a city that has millions of visitors who may not remember to re-use them in a future visit.

 

[D6130]

We pass through Paris at least four times per year en route to and from Italy and usually stay for two nights and the day in-between, so the Navigo passes are very useful to us and the small expenditure in purchasing the cards is more than compensated for by the savings accrued by loading them with ten journey 'carnet' fares.

 

[AdamWW]

The Navigo Découverte pass is only available at ticket windows at the moment, so the substantial queues underneath main stations are likely to get worse.

Environmentally, replacing paper tickets with plastic chipcards, doesn't seem too great an idea in a city that has millions of visitors who may not remember to re-use them in a future visit.

Some years ago I used a Metro system in Korea (I forget where). For a single trip you bought a plastic token with (I presume) an RFID chip in it. On the way into the system you waved it at the barrier. On the way out you put it in a slot for it to be used again.

No disposable cardboard tickets and no plastic cards to be bought, used once, then chucked away. It seemed like quite a good plan to me (if a bit confusing because on the way in I was looking for a slot to put the token in).

As for remembering to re-use Navigo cards, you not only have to remember that you bought one the last time you went to Paris - you also have to find it again.

Another solution would be to have sufficient standardisation that you can load tickets for arbitrary systems onto a generic pre-pay card, and without them interfering with each other.

 

[30907]

As for remembering to re-use Navigo cards, you not only have to remember that you bought one the last time you went to Paris - you also have to find it again.

...which you have to do with the unused tickets from your last carnet de dix too

 

[AdamWW]

...which you have to do with the unused tickets from your last carnet de dix too

But I don't think you have to buy tickets in 10's.

 

[zero]

The Navigo Découverte pass is only available at ticket windows at the moment, so the substantial queues underneath main stations are likely to get worse.

Environmentally, replacing paper tickets with plastic chipcards, doesn't seem too great an idea in a city that has millions of visitors who may not remember to re-use them in a future visit.

London did it - priced people out of buying paper tickets long before visitors could use contactless reliably

Furthermore, refunding Oyster deposits permanently disables the card, why couldn't they have just wiped the data and provided boxes to put refunded Oysters in, then the cards could be reused.

When ticket offices used to refund Oysters, did they reuse them or did they just dump them?

 

[AdamWW]

London did it - priced people out of buying paper tickets long before visitors could use contactless reliably

Indeed. And even nowadays if you're visiting with children you have a choice of paying full price for them or getting an Oyster card so you can put the "young visitor" discount on.

At it's less of an issue (for now anyway) when just changing trains in London.

 

[urbophile]

It's always puzzled me that the UK with its Maltese cross tickets for crossing London (despite our otherwise disintegrated transport system) is more efficient than France with its supposedly integrated one. If one is traveling eg from Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon, quite a common journey for British tourists, are we supposed to have armed ourselves with the requisite smart card beforehand? And if so, where do we get one from?

 

[yoyothehobo]

I am glad of this. I found that quite frequently the cardboard tickets wouldnt actually work all that well and hence have to make a trip to a ticket window to get a replacement. Crying out for contactless and some of the queues for the ticket machines was silly at peak hours.

 

[riceuten]

Last time I was in Paris, I bought myself and my partner a (paper) Mobilis Zones 1-3 ticket unfortunately, and my partner's ticket conked out. We queued up at La Defense's single ticket office to get it changed, but at 6pm, the ticket counter just closed - mid transaction ! - and there wasn't then a single person at the station to deal with ticket queries. With no other solution apparent, she just tailgated me, and when we got to Nation, I was able to find a staff member to let us out of the station, and was able to swap the ticket there.

So, yes, I personally would welcome the chance to use a smartcard, or even better, a debit/credit card with a daily cap. Paris has a weird set up where weekly tickets are cheap, but are only valid Monday to Sunday.

If one is traveling eg from Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon, quite a common journey for British tourists, are we supposed to have armed ourselves with the requisite smart card beforehand? And if so, where do we get one from?

From the underground ticket office at the Gare du Nord, it seems.

 

[yoyothehobo]

From the underground ticket office at the Gare du Nord, it seems.

So the same place you pretty much have to go to get a paper ticket then....

 

[Austriantrain]

Paris has a weird set up where weekly tickets are cheap, but are only valid Monday to Sunday.

Useful for commuters and much less so for tourists, which certainly is the point.

It used to be the same in Vienna but the system got changed and you can now buy weekly tickets with validity starting any day of the week.

 

[mike57]

We have Navigo Decouverte passes which we have owned for a few years. With the advent of the new RATP app we were able top our cards up before leaving the UK using my phone. Not every phone has the required hardware, but my S21 Ultra and my wifes iPhone 13pro could both read and write to the cards. This solves the problem of arriving at Gare du Nord and having to buy tickets or top cards up. We tend to stay out of the centre, so go for the all zone one week at nearly 23E for zones 1-5. Our 8 day trip required 2 top ups so about 46E each. We had trips to Disneyland and Versailles as well as journeys around the centre, even short bus hops on a couple of occasions at the end of the day when tired, and I think that is pretty good value for money.

You can also get the weekly tickets and other tickets on compatible phones, so that another option, and means again you can arrive ready to go.

Otherwise its the 2E travel card, but I think you can also buy tickets and top that up with your phone remotely, but dont quote me as I have no personal experience.

 

[AdamWW]

Useful for commuters and much less so for tourists, which certainly is the point.

It used to be the same in Vienna but the system got changed and you can now buy weekly tickets with validity starting any day of the week.

Doesn't Oyster weekly price capping run from Monday to Sunday rather than over arbitrary 7 day windows?

 

[zero]

Doesn't Oyster weekly price capping run from Monday to Sunday rather than over arbitrary 7 day windows?

Yes, but you can buy a 7-day travelcard starting on any day of the week.

 

[Feuillesmortes]

We have Navigo Decouverte passes

One thing about the carnet tickets is that you could pass it them onto friends /neighbours. In a similar way, can you lend out these passes?

You can also get the weekly tickets and other tickets on compatible phones, so that another option, and means again you can arrive ready to go.

Does this mean without needing a smartcard?

 

[mike57]

One thing about the carnet tickets is that you could pass it them onto friends /neighbours. In a similar way, can you lend out these passes?


Does this mean without needing a smartcard?

No you cant lend out the passes, they have your picture on.

No smart card needed, as long as your phone is compatible (mine is an S21 Ultra, and wifes iPhone 13 is also compatible). However comes with a warning as beyond checking phone compatibility from within the app to answer your question I haven't tried using it instead of the pass. However phone was successfully used to top up two navigo passes a couple of weeks ago from the UK before we set off, and underlying tech is the same, so SHOULDN'T be a problem

 

[ashkeba]

So the same place you pretty much have to go to get a paper ticket then....

No, you can get paper tickets from the machines in corridors, as well as the ticket offices.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

One of the few things GB does better than certain European countries is sensibly-sized card tickets. The fiddly postage-stamp tickets used in Paris, Barcelona, Prague etc. are an absolute pain to use- being so tiny they're easy to lose and easily get damaged. Less important for a single journey ticket, but in Prague a three-day or one-week pass is the same sort of ticket that only travelling fairs and museum railways use here.

So I won't shed a tear for these tickets being withdrawn in Paris. It's about time they left the 1950s behind!

 

[duesselmartin]

and even mainline rail tickets have a decent size in the UK, unlike most of Europe. But then that is way OT.

 

[Feuillesmortes]

So I won't shed a tear for these tickets being withdrawn in Paris. It's about time they left the 1950s behind!

Meanwhile rural bus lines have the same sort of tickets, cash only sold on board, or from newsagents as carnets using card or cash.

I guess they haven't worked out a better way and don't want to invest in additional devices onboard.

 

[CC 72100]

No you cant lend out the passes, they have your picture on.

No smart card needed, as long as your phone is compatible (mine is an S21 Ultra, and wifes iPhone 13 is also compatible). However comes with a warning as beyond checking phone compatibility from within the app to answer your question I haven't tried using it instead of the pass. However phone was successfully used to top up two navigo passes a couple of weeks ago from the UK before we set off, and underlying tech is the same, so SHOULDN'T be a problem
View attachment 122319

You certainly can lend out the Navigo Decouverte passes, which I got on my last visit to Paris.

Personal Navigo passes (possibly only open to Paris region residents) no you cannot.