SNCF ticketing questions

[shinkansen1966]

Next week, I am going to Palermo, Sicilly all the way by train. Out via Zurich, Milano, Naples. Back on the ferry to Genoa, then onto Marseilles.

Does my printed e-ticket for the TGV train from Paris to Zurich need to 'composted' at those orange SNCF machines along the platforms ?

I'll be travelling from Ventimiglia to Marseilles, for which I have yet to buy a ticket. SNCF appear to offer a TER type train service running every 30-60 minutes along this route. Is it possible to buy a single day ticket between Ventimigilia and Marseilles St Charles and break your journey en route ? Just like you can with British anytime singles ?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[anme]

Does my printed e-ticket for the TGV train from Paris to Zurich need to 'composted' at those orange SNCF machines along the platforms ?

No, I don't think this is necessary, or even possible. E-tickets (and also foreign-issued tickets) generally won't physically fit in the 'composting' machine.

I assume they rely on ticket checks on board to record that a ticket has been used. This is important for tickets that are not restricted to a specific train.

 

[Max]

I can confirm that e-tickets for TGV do not need to be validated. Enjoy your trip, I recently completed a most enjoyable journey from Milan-Hull via Paris and London!

 

[waynenm1]

I did London-Paris=Brig-Perugia a couple months ago and I can also confirm you do not need to stamp your eticket for the TGV in the machine.

 

[Frothy]

I'll be travelling from Ventimiglia to Marseilles, for which I have yet to buy a ticket. SNCF appear to offer a TER type train service running every 30-60 minutes along this route. Is it possible to buy a single day ticket between Ventimigilia and Marseilles St Charles and break your journey en route ? Just like you can with British anytime singles ?

Thanks in advance for any help.

You should have no problems breaking your journey with a TER ticket.

If by any chance you are under 25 or over 60, off-peak travel is discounted. Just watch out for peak-time restrictions. They work as follows:

Bleue (Blue) periods are off-peak and Blanche (White) periods are peak times

When you buy your ticket from Ventimiglia, Blue tariffs apply on all trains leaving Ventimiglia within the Blue time periods on the calendar. If you break your journey on these Blue tariff tickets, when you board a train at an intermediate station, make sure that the train was orginally scheduled to depart from that intermediate station at a time in one of the Blue time periods.

Repeat as desired. If you're 26-59, you don't have to worry about any of that.

 

[Gordon]

When you buy your ticket from Ventimiglia, Blue tariffs apply .

The travel calendar only really applies to long distance services and some railcard fares.

A plain local single ticket will be valid for stopping TER and the faster 'intervilles' services (17xxx train numbers) along the Cote d'Azur. As long as you stick to these and avoid TGV and the reservation obligatory Intercites services to Narbonne/Toulouse (formerly branded Teoz, 4 figure train numbers such as 47xx) you should be able to hop off and on without problems within the day.

However, what I don't know is if there is a local ticket issuing machine at Ventimiglia, as it is on Italian territory. Ticket machine provision varies, for example at places on Swiss territory that count as 'SNCF' stations. there is no local machine at Geneve, but there is one at Basel.

the two bulleted items below translate as:
There is no need to compost e-tickets, nor tickets bought or exchanged at at ticket machines within 1 hour of departure.


BTW it is also worth rememebring (also on the FRench text below) that if you forget to compost your ticket, or have any other ticket problems, if you make yourself known to the train staff proactively - ie you go to see them before they get to you with the normal ticket check - you will be OK.

SNCF train staff generally do a preliminary 'walk through' the train once it has set off, before later doing a second 'pass' down the train which will be the official ticket check. As long as you find them on the first pass you are OK.

Compostage obligatoire
Avant de monter à bord de votre TGV, n'oubliez pas de composter vos billets et éventuels titres de réduction.
Vous avez oublié ou n'avez pas eu le temps de composter vos billets ?
Signalez-le tout de suite au Chef de Bord pour éviter d’avoir à acquitter un complément lors du contrôle.


Bon à savoir :

• le Billet Imprimé® est dispensé de compostage.
• le billet acheté, échangé ou retiré sur la Borne Libre Service dans l’heure avant votre départ est composté automatiquement.


N'oubliez pas votre justificatif de réduction :


Si vous possédez une carte de réduction, ne montez pas à bord de TGV sans elle. En effet, en cas d'oubli vous devriez régler au Chef de Bord la différence de prix de référence.
Cette somme est remboursable ensuite (moins 10 € de retenue) sur présentation de votre justificatif de réduction.



.

 

[shinkansen1966]

Thank you for this information. This is very useful !

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

A quick build on Gordon's post about not having 'compost' (which is what we've always called this process chez Fiennes!) one's ticket within an hour of departure: this is the procedure for 'reservation obligatoire' services ie. practically all intercity. But TER tickets still have to be composted no matter when bought as they are essentially 'Standard Opens'.
I seem to recall that Ventigmiglia does not have an SNCF machine but does have a ticket office so you can get a ticket there (and probably it would then be a CIV ticket, ie. international, giving you slightly more rights).

 

[Peter Mugridge]

This brings me to ask, why does the Paris Visite ticket require "composting" on board trams but nowhere else? Is it because everywhere else you have to go through a barrier to get on board?

Supplementary question - if I ride the tram one stop, get off the tram and wait for the following tram ( for haulage collection purposes ) am I supposed to "re-compost" when I get on the following tram?

 

[radamfi]

Doesn't it say at the top of tickets at that they need to be composted in France? Which means that if you get on outside France for an international journey (such as from Ventimiglia) you don't need to stamp?

 

[stut]

FWIW, I've noticed that they've become slightly more forgiving of people forgetting their compostage recently (presumably due to the increase in e-/m-tickets). On TER/Intercités trains, you now regularly hear an announcement along the lines of "card tickets should have been validated before boarding this train. If you have not done so, please contact a member of train crew now."

 

[Gordon]

FWIW, I've noticed that they've become slightly more forgiving of people forgetting their compostage recently (presumably due to the increase in e-/m-tickets). On TER/Intercités trains, you now regularly hear an announcement along the lines of "card tickets should have been validated before boarding this train. If you have not done so, please contact a member of train crew now."

This is related to my comment about the prliminary 'walk through'.

Yes, I agree, but even before the e-ticket revolution this was changing and I suspect that somewhere along the line there has been an internal policy change. In the early days of compostage, it was rigidly enforced and if you didn't do it you were fined. As I recall (though time may have faded the memory) the preliminary pass through the train was not carried out with such
regularity

 

[plymothian]

"Composting" lol
Due to the lack of direct translation, it's tricky, but why not use 'validating'?

 

[daikilo]

FWIW, I've noticed that they've become slightly more forgiving of people forgetting their compostage recently (presumably due to the increase in e-/m-tickets). On TER/Intercités trains, you now regularly hear an announcement along the lines of "card tickets should have been validated before boarding this train. If you have not done so, please contact a member of train crew now."

As I understand, if you have a ticket issued by a machine or a booking office then it should be "printed over" at the orange box. If you have an E-ticket on printed paper or a Mobile-phone ticket then this is not required and indeed is impossible. One day, no doubt, we will have a jurisprudence on inequal treatment and the orange boxes will disappear or barriers will appear or the orange boxes will be modified to record the ideogrammes as in airports. This however would then require the on-train checking to have a live connection to a database. Something will happen but probably not this year.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

This brings me to ask, why does the Paris Visite ticket require "composting" on board trams but nowhere else? Is it because everywhere else you have to go through a barrier to get on board?

Supplementary question - if I ride the tram one stop, get off the tram and wait for the following tram ( for haulage collection purposes ) am I supposed to "re-compost" when I get on the following tram?

*raises hand slowly*

Errr... has my question been overlooked?

 

[Julian W]

I think you would be expected it to compost it on each tram, as well as the RATP buses, in the same way you have to scan a Navigo card each time you board a new service.

 

[island]

"Composting" lol
Due to the lack of direct translation, it's tricky, but why not use 'validating'?

Stamping would work for me.

 

[Frothy]

Stamping would work for me.

I prefer 'date-stamping'

 

[stut]

Composting is nothing. When I lived in Amiens, the local bus company insisted you "obliterate" your ticket.

 

[shinkansen1966]

Ok, this is what happened.

At Ventimiglia, there was only an Italian railways booking office. They could only sell me a ticket to Nice. Not to Marseilles as I had asked. Instead, I bought a single ticket from Ventimiglia to Monaco (which fancied seeing) - this was €3.80. At Monaco bought another ticket from Monaco to Marseilles - €35.

This has been part of a train trip: London-Paris -Zürich- Milan-Naples-Palermo-ferry-Genoa-Marseilles. The train ride from Naples to Palermo particularly scenic along the cost.. Was able to watch the whole process of getting the train onto the ferry across the Straits of Messina to Sicily.

Currently on a TER train between Nice and Marseilles..

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I think you would be expected it to compost it on each tram, as well as the RATP buses, in the same way you have to scan a Navigo card each time you board a new service.

Thank you ( not familiar with Navigo though - only ever use Paris Visite when I'm over there ).

The main reason I was asking is I have a few times had the ticket rejected by the compostage on a tram because it was still within some sort of time limit from having been done on the preceeding tram, or in one case it was one going the opposite way that I had just swapped from...

 

[CC 72100]

I think you would be expected it to compost it on each tram, as well as the RATP buses, in the same way you have to scan a Navigo card each time you board a new service.

As someone who is vaguely (well learning!) familiar with the Navigo, it is basically a case of validating whenever you are about to board a service. Even if you have the pass and the correct 'ticket' loaded onto it (for example, If I was found travelling in zone 2 on a zones 1-3 pass), without it being validated beforehand, you are (according to the posters) treated as ticketless.

I'm still yet to work out the quirks of the system, like how long you have to leave between validating, and also when it is neccesary after travelling (For example, say if I did a train to Longueville, do I need to touch out, and touch back in again, before taking a train back if I just went there for the ride and was heading straight back). - I'm wondering whether the Navigo works in a similar way as to how Peter has described his Paris Visite as working.

The whole validating in/ validating out system is confused a little bit by most stations only requiring you to validate before travel, which is what one would expect. However gated stations (such as Paris Est Transilien platforms) or on the RER require you to use the pass to exit too, as opposed to being the ticketless, one-way gates that are found at metro stations. This is why on my way to work I have to put my pass on the barriers twice (entrance at RER station, interchange at RER/ metro station), but have to do it three times on the way back (Enter metro station, interchange at RER/ metro station, exit RER station.)

 

[island]

The logic behind the RER having exit gates is that the Metro and buses are a flat fare but the RER is zonal, so they need to check for short fares.

 

[CC 72100]

The logic behind the RER having exit gates is that the Metro and buses are a flat fare but the RER is zonal, so they need to check for short fares.

Absolutely, as soon as you're past the ~ line on the map, you're out in the suburbs where the fare depends on distance.

I'm sure short fares are the least of the worries though. Fare evasion seems rife - vaulting the barriers despite it being in plain view of the man sat at the info point is common, and during the first week where I was on paper tickets, there were a lot of adults on reduced fare, childs tickets (up to 10 years old) on the ticket machines next to me.

Did get checked on a Transilien P train yesterday - they've got an handheld device that can read the passes and whether (and where) they've been validated or not. A few more revenue staff wouldn't go a miss though...

 

[island]

They seem to be aware of barrier-jumping; last time I was in Paris there was one occasion where a battalion of RPIs were installed along one of the tunnels near the platform and turned all the single journey tickets over to make sure they'd been stamped going through a gate.