Major changes to paris public transport tickets begin this january

SIMPLIFIED FARES AND A FLAT ‘TOURIST PASS’ FEE ARE AMONG THE NEW TICKET OPTIONS Changes to public transport in Paris have been introduced this January including a ‘Paris visite’ tourist pass

and a flat ticket fee for travel across the region. The changes came into force on January 2, in what the President of Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM), Valérie Pécresse, has called a

“ticketing revolution”.  She first announced the changes in September, 2024. Their aim is to “give the same freedom of movement and dignity to all the region's residents, wherever they

live and wherever they work", she told the AFP on December 23. Read more: Single €2.50 ticket price to be introduced across Paris region for metros and trains IDFM has estimated that

the new measures will cost €30 million. Ms Pécresse has said that this cost will be partly offset by "the shift from car to public transport” and increased measures to fight ticket

fraud. She added that estimates suggest the new measures will increase public transport use and reduce individual car use by 1-2%. Read also: Three French cities offer free public transport

- and soon four?  SIMPLIFIED FARES There are now two transport tickets only for a single ticket fare, in a bid to simplify the system.  * Single ticket for train, metro and RER journeys

across Ile-de-France: €2.50 * Single ticket for bus and tram journeys across Ile-de-France: €2. If passengers want to use both of these services in one journey (e.g. first get the train, and

then a bus), they will need two tickets, one of each type. “Whereas 50,000 different fares were possible on January 1, 2025, there will now be just two,” the IDFM website states. The new

tickets mean that three million RER, train and bus users will pay less. The million or so users who take the metro will pay slightly more, said Ms Pécresse. Eligible passengers are entitled

to a discount on these tickets also. The old T+ tickets, the Navigo Easy pass, and tickets showing the point of departure and destination will remain valid until December 31, 2025. So far,

transport user associations have broadly welcomed the changes.  The RER and Transilien users‘ association ‘Plus de trains’ said it was happy to see “the end of fare traps”, while Marc

Pélissier, head of the Fédération nationale des associations d'usagers des transports, said the “measure was beneficial for the inner suburbs”, but did criticise the rise in metro fare.

A SINGLE ‘PARIS VISITE’ PASS FOR TOURISTS Tourists can now buy a special ‘Paris Visite’ pass. For €29.90 a day, it offers unlimited travel across the region, including to and from airports.

  Other fares that could be useful for tourists have been simplified.  * The Navigo Jour pass has been reduced from €20.60 to €12. It allows travel in all zones, from 1 to 5 (but does not

include airport services). * Airport services now have a single ‘flat fare’, regardless of whether users make the journey by bus (Roissybus, Orlybus), RER B or line 14. Previously, there

were five different airport fares. Ms Pécresse said in September that these new measures would involve “a small transfer of the burden onto visitors” to finance transport as part of her aim

to “balance fares between the people of Ile-de-France who pay for transport through their taxes and the visitors who do not”.  Slightly increasing fares for tourists will help to pay for

“reduced fares for residents of the inner and outer suburbs of Paris”, she said. CARDBOARD TICKETS TO DISAPPEAR FOR GOOD The transition to paperless ticketing began more than three years

ago: cardboard ticket books began to disappear in October 2021 and will end in September 2023.  Cardboard ticket books have already been widely phased out in Ile-de-France, but single

cardboard tickets have still been sold at ticket offices. These will be gradually phased this year. IDFM plans to focus on “smartphone ticketing“ and “rechargeable passes”, it said, with

most of the region’s transport tickets already available on smartphones. Cardboard tickets will only be available from ticket machines that do not offer the option to recharge passes,

pending the rollout of modern machines everywhere. THE TEN-TICKET BOOK DISAPPEARS The ten-ticket book which was sold at a reduced rate (in comparison to buying 10 single fares) will no

longer exist.  However, IDFM is intending to develop the Liberté + pass, to make it possible to pay for transport on a per-use basis for all journeys made during a month.  This has only been

available on the metro and buses in Paris and the inner suburbs, from now it will apply throughout the whole Ile-de-France region.  The IDFM website states that Liberté + users can now buy

a ‘special fare’, which offers tickets for 20% less. For journeys that connect transport types (e.g. metro and tram) users will only pay for the most expensive ticket. “We really want

Liberté + to become the benchmark for all Ile-de-France residents,” said Ms Pécresse, saying that the new system will mean that some journeys are up to 50-75% cheaper, particularly for

“complicated journeys with lots of connections”. The monthly Navigo pass (which will increase by 2.8% to €88.80 this year) is still available.