The t+ ticket and other Paris, France Transportation Tips

The recent "Ticket t+" and "Billet

Ile-de-France"

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Subway/Metro
Getting TO/AROUND: (Info from the RATP web site).
"With effect from 1st July 2007, the present mauve-coloured t ticket will give way to the new white-coloured t+ ticket. (In 2008 the former mauve tickets are still valid).

The t+ ticket enables the customer to travel on:
the whole of the metro and the Montmartre funicular
the RER (RATP and SNCF) within Paris
the RATP buses in Paris and the suburbs (except for lines with special fares)
and to make connections on the whole of the metro and the RER in Paris as the t ticket did and use the Noctilien network (of night buses) without connections, in accordance with the specific fare system on the Noctilien network
The t+ ticket brings in a more extensive service with a new functionality:
the possibility of making bus/bus and bus/tram connections.
"connection" means transferring from one bus line to another.

How do you use it ?
After validating it every time you board a bus or tram, you have an hour and a half between the first validation and the last validation to make one or more connections.
The t+ ticket is sold singly (full fare) or in a carnet (full or reduced fare).
Be careful ! Aboard buses the drivers have a different ticket they sell which does not allow connections.
Airports
Travelling to and from the airports requires special tickets."

On 1/07/2008 the price of this t+ ticket has been increased to 1,60 € and the carnet of 10 tickets became 11,40 €.
The "carnet de 10" is very often used by visitors of Paris but note that the selling desks in the Metro stations are not always open (even often closed) so prepare yourself to buy them at the machine by having enough € coins with you. Rather few machines accept bank notes.

I noted that the former tickets with extended zones 4 - 6 do not exist anymore (except for travel subscriptions "abonnements" ) but are replaced by a Billet Ile-de-France which calculates the price from inside Paris to a specific destination outside (for example Versailles).
See my tip about this billet IDF.

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RER (Regional Trains): Billet Ile-de-France.

Tip Rating:

Written by breughel

on Jul 26, 2008

"Billet Ile-de-France" to

Versailles.

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Train
Getting TO/AROUND: This is now the ticket most visitors of Versailles use as they have to travel outside Paris with the RER line C Versailles Rive Gauche. The ticket seems rather new because on the RATP web site I found only explanations in French and not yet in English or other languages.

"Il est destiné ŕ des déplacements occasionnels sur le réseau ferré d'Ile-de-France : RER (RATP/SNCF) et trains de banlieue SNCF. Le billet IDF peut ętre acheté dans la gare ou la station de métro de départ ou d'arrivée. Il est utilisable au choix dans le sens aller ou dans le sens retour. Le coűt de ce billet est variable selon son origine (gare de départ) et sa destination (gare d'arrivée). Son prix n'est pas lié aux zones, celles-ci étant réservées aux forfaits et abonnements de transport.
Les billets ŕ destination ou au départ de Paris permettent d'utiliser aussi bien le train que le RER sur le trajet indiqué, plus le métro (la station de métro empruntée doit ętre en correspondance avec la gare d'arrivée ou de départ du parcours du RER ou du train).

Achat
Le billet Ile-de-France tarif plein ou tarif réduit*, peut s'acheter au détail ou en carnet. Le carnet se compose de 10 billets, avec une économie de 20% par rapport au prix du billet ŕ l'unité.
- Le billet IDF peut ętre acheté ŕ l'avance; non validé, il n'a pas de date limite d'utilisation.
- Les billets Ile-de-France vendus ŕ l'unité ou au carnet ne sont ni remboursables ni échangeables. "

The "billet Ile-de-France" is a ticket for occasional trips between Paris and the banlieue (like Versailles) combining Metro and RER or train. Price is calculated (by the selling desk or the machine) depending on place of departure and destination. One can use the ticket in one sense or in the other, of course for a return trip you need to buy two tickets.
For Versailles the single fare is 2,90 € from the centre of Paris what includes the Metro to the RER C terminal station presently at the Invalides and the 30 minutes trip to Versailles Rive Gauche.
The ticket has no date for use.

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RER (Regional Trains): By RER C to Versailles Château.

Tip Rating:

Updated by breughel

on Sep 7, 2008

Versailles Rive Gauche RER

platform.

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Train
Getting TO/AROUND: To travel by the RER C5 to Versailles Rive Gauche (Château de Versailles) you need a "BILLET ILE-DE-FRANCE" which combines Metro inside Paris and the RER trip from Paris to Versailles RIVE GAUCHE (do not take the other RER C7 or C8 trains).
You can buy this Billet IDF (2,90 €) as well as the return ticket at the metro stations desks or the machines. For details see my tip.
You have to validate your ticket when you enter your Metro station but also when entering the RER platforms and leaving the station of Versailles. So keep your ticket for the entire trip.

From 15/07 till 23/08/2008 the RER C line wass interrupted between Austerlitz and Invalides. The situation is again normal. When arriving on the platform look well out to take the right RER C5 to Versailles RIVE GAUCHE. There are trains about every 25 minutes and the trip takes 30 minutes. The RER of 08.26 h at Invalides will bring you at the opening of the Château gates at 9.00 h.

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Métro: Buying tickets at the machine.

Tip Rating:

Updated by breughel

on Aug 1, 2008

Metro & RER Tickets machine.

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Subway/Metro
Getting TO/AROUND: The desks in the Metro stations are not always open so that the tourist arriving in Paris might have to use the ticket machines.
I know from experience that one can buy at the machine the normal ticket t+, the carnet de 10 tickets t+ and the Billet Ile-de-France for travelling by Metro + RER outside the centre (see my tip).
From the photo you might see that the choice of the type of ticket is made by rolling a cylinder below the screen until what you need.
Payment on most machines is by € coins or bank card. Some machines, but not all, accept also bank notes. So take your precautions and have enough coins if you want for example to buy a carnet of 10 tickets at 11,40 €.
If I remember well most explanations were in French but I paid no attention to this point as it is my usual language.

The PARISVISITE pass can also be bought at the automatic machines in all Metro, RER, Railway SNCF stations according to the answer I got from the RATP (btw prompt service).

"Merci de votre visite sur le site de la RATP.
Paris Visite est en vente dans toutes les stations de métro (guichet et machines automatiques), toutes les gares RER, les points de vente bus, les gares SNCF, les aéroports de Paris, et les bureaux de l'Office de Tourisme de Paris."

So, bon voyage.

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Métro: Metro 14 - The modern metro line.

Tip Rating:

Written by breughel

on Aug 1, 2008

Metro 14 at Madeleine

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Subway/Metro
Getting TO/AROUND: The M14 line is from what I have seen in Paris the only modern metro line.
It is a rather short line from MADELEINE, Pyramides, Châtelet, Gare de Lyon, Bercy, Cour St-Emilion, Bibliothčque Fr. Mitterand, to OLYMPIADES. The stations are more distant from each other than with older lines so that the journey is faster.
Particularities are the platforms separated by a glass barrier from the rail track. The metro train stops exactly at the spots where the doors which open automatically are located.
The wagons are of the continue type, better for the safety feeling but providing a strong draught of air what is not so bad on warm days. This latest M14 line seems located deep in the ground so that at La Madeleine there are three escalators needed to get down to the platform.

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Bicycle: Velib - 6 deadly accidents.

Tip Rating:

Written by breughel

on Apr 5, 2009

'Mode': TO
Category: Bicycle
Getting TO/AROUND: The French TV announced the sixth fatal accident in Paris of a user of Velib bicycle self-service since its launching on July 15th, 2007.
They did not mention the number of deadly accidents implying cyclists using their own bicycle.
Any person having visited Paris will have noted that the traffic is particularly dense and often risky. Cohabitation between cyclists, busses, taxis, heavy trucks and vehicles of delivery is particularly dangerous because these vehicles are generally authorized to drive on the same lanes as the bicycles!
These accidents with Velib users were almost all due to a truck or bus turning right without having seen the cyclist on their side; the traditional problem of “the dead angle”.

If you are a tourist in Paris and want to drive a bicycle be particularly careful. This city does not have the infrastructures reserved exclusively to the cyclists such as in Amsterdam for example.
Best is to choose for your cycling days of less traffic like Sundays or the periods of holidays like August.

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Bicycle: VELIB - Victim of vandalism.

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Written by breughel

on Aug 23, 2009