Paris metro fine

[Neil Polo]

I bought two day tickets at a cost of 2.5 euros each yesterday to make a journey from Gare de l’Est to Pont de l’Alma. Apparently these tickets are not valid after six pm. This is according to the revenue boy issuing fines. In this case, fifty euros per ticket. I pondered this having bought the tickets after 6pm and passed through automatic barriers with them after this time too. The metro website said nothing of what time of day these tickets were valid. Only something about having to use it within 90 minutes. I think I may have gone over that but the revenue dude didn’t say anything about that. Has anyone else encountered this 6pm peak or whatever it was, on the Paris metro? If my ticket was no longer valid fair enough, but should it have met me through barriers at that time?

 

[mike57]

I have some concerns here:

Have a look here https://www.ratp.fr/en/titres-et-tarifs/t-ticket

No mention of 6pm. Have you got a proper reciept for the fine, have you paid it? If you parted with cash on the spot then I think its safe to assume RATP will never see it. I have seen revenue protection checking and issuing fines on the Paris metro and they usually issue a paper 'ticket' unless there are aggravating circumstances when they usually make the person deal with it on the platform. You cannot use t+ tickets outside Zone 1 on the RER, but Pont de Alma is in zone 1.

If it was a fine which has to be paid then I would go to one of the staffed windows at the bigger stations and politely ask for an explanation. If it was a scam then feel free to PM me as I am also moderator for a Paris tourists page and this is a new one and we do try and alert people to scams there.

 

[Neil Polo]

I payed with a card and have the banking app and a sort of receipt which has an infraction number attached.

I’ll go to enquire today. Are there any larger stations on the metro near the Louvre?

 

[SHD]

You were fined just after 11pm at Chaussée d’Antin. At what time did you pass through the barriers at Gare de l’Est? What was the last barrier you passed through before being stopped, and at what time?

edit - additional remarks:
- the €2.5 tickets you bought are not day tickets but singles. There is a day ticket ("Navigo Jour") but it costs 12€
- "t+" tickets are not sold any more since January 1, the €2.5 single ticket is valid for travel on all "rail" networks (metro/RER/suburban services/express trams) over the whole Île-de-France region except airports
- but it indeed has a time limit - actually 2hr starting from the first validation https://www.iledefrance-mobilites.fr/cgvu-tickets-metro-train-rer or https://www.iledefrance-mobilites.fr/en/tickets-fares/detail/metro-train-rer-ticket

 

[Neil Polo]

Ah ok. I’m not entirely sure of the exact time I bought the ticket but the notification on my banking app was 1840. They are sometimes late in appearing but obviously it won’t be later than that. I had a sense there may be something wrong with the ticket I’d used after browsing the site in the link Mike57 sent. The thing I was curious about was the validity after 1800 comments from the revenue collector. If the ticket was a single then the time shouldn’t have been relevant should it? I’d have thought the tickets being singles was something he ought to have mentioned. I would have passed through the first barrier at Gare l’Est well over two hours before the return journey. Which it seems was not covered at all anyway. Though it still seems odd I got through the barriers at Pont d’Alma on the return journey. That would have been after 2230 I should think.

 

[Wandering Pom]

I might have missed something on the RATP page, but it looks to me as if the t+ ticket is effectively a single ticket, valid from the first validation for 90 minutes only. Multiple connections are allowed, but (I think) no doubling back on a single route, or break of journey. I think the "after 6pm" issue is something getting lost in translation.
The relevant day ticket appears to be the Navigo one-day card at 12 euros.

 

[SHD]

My bad, I thought that the paper-based t+ had been discontinued, but indeed it is still on sale, indeed with a time limit of 90 minutes (which appears to be the reason for the fine you received).

 

[mike57]

I payed with a card and have the banking app and a sort of receipt which has an infraction number attached.

I’ll go to enquire today. Are there any larger stations on the metro near the Louvre?

OK at least its not a scam.

If you started at Gare de l'Est then the station you were fined at is on the way to where you were going, and the route you would take is change to RER C at Invalides. But to be honest it looks like you were using a single to make multiple journeys.

If you had already visited Pont de l'Alma then the fine is valid, if you had been travelling around other places then the fine is valid. The 2.5e ticket is for a single journey. I suspect from exchange you report its not a '6pm' restriction, its that you started your journey at 6pm, and this got lost in the translation.

Here is a snip from the RATP website, the bit you missed Metro-metro lines, RER-RER lines, and metro-RER lines in Paris for 90 minutes from the first validation (without leaving the network);

As a fairly regular vistor to Paris to be honest the various Navigo offering are much less hassle. If you going to be in Paris for more than 2 days then assuming these three days or more dont cross a Sunday to Monday its 31.60e for an all zones pass for the week (with the Navigo 'week' being Monday to Sunday). That covers everywhere, all the week. Buses, Metro, Trams, RER, and 'main line' suburban trains within the Ile de France so you are covered for trips out to places like Versaille and Disneyland. For shorter duration visits the days passes are a good bet. You can also get them on your phone as long as your phone is fairly modern (not sure if they have sorted the iPhone issue yet) or buy a smart card and top it up either at a stations or using your phone.

We have Navigo Decouvert passes which you need for the weekly pass, they cost 5e I think, and we can top them both up using my phone as it has the required NFC hardware. So when we arrive in Paris we already have our tickets and just go straight to our metro or RER for onward travel. The Decouvert pass requires a photocard which is issued at a manned ticket window, its a one off task with an odd sized non passport sized photo, but all photo booths in Paris offer them. The Navigo Easy doesn't need the photo but cant be used for weekly or monthly passes (I think).

 

[SHD]

Ha, I think I understand where the 6pm stuff comes from. Do you still have your paper ticket? Can you show a picture of the ink stamping left on it by the barrier? (if it's not too faint) there should be a series of thick hatches and some grouped numbers or letters

 

[Peter Mugridge]

The Decouvert pass requires a photocard which is issued at a manned ticket window, its a one off task with an odd sized non passport sized photo, but all photo booths in Paris offer them.

I got mine issued in 2023 with a standard UK passport photo... they just trim it to size when issuing the ticket; the person ahead of me also had a Navigo issued and the ticket office lady took his photo then and there through the ticket office window and then issued his pass ( this was at Gare du Nord ).

 

[Neil Polo]

This is the kind. I can’t make out which of the four I have are the two concerned because there’s no info on them. The stamps at the back are totally illegible. I have to say, British tickets are much better.

But yes. It seems I made a boo boo that was less than perfectly explained owing to translation. But at least all is well. Next time I’ll be sure to get day tickets.

Thank you all for the information.

 

[Mag_seven]

Can we confine discussion in this thread to the issue that @Neil Polo has. If anyone wants to discuss anything else then they are welcome to start a new thread elsewhere. Some off topic posts can now be found here:

Paris metro ticketing query

Moderator note - split from: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/paris-metro-fine.283029/ Going slightly off piste, I shall be passing through the Paris Metro early in September before returning the following month. I still possess one of the unused above tickets but presumed that these...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[island]

So just to confirm, the tickets you purchased were not day tickets but single tickets. It sounds like you used them for multiple journeys. As such you were correctly issued with infractions.

The "after 6pm" thing is likely to be something lost in translation.

 

[Neil Polo]

Indeed. Next trip will be preceded by more thorough ticket research. Thanks.