As I recently shared, there are more ways to get around Paris these days than ever. With all the choices though, the metro, buses, trains, and RER remain the most common and convenient*. In fact, riders make almost 3 billion** … yes, billion! … trips a year on the various lignes de trains, de RER, et de métro (train, RER, and metro lines) that run around and through Paris.***

A selection of train, metro, and bus tickets from my recent trip to France.

As I also recently shared, in the years ahead the RATP is planning to phase out their famous tickets. Until they do though, my recent trip to France reminded me of an important rule that you should know if you ever find yourself empruntant les transports en commun (using – lit. borrowing – public transportation) in Paris: Ne jetez pas votre ticket avant la sortie! (Don’t throw away your ticket until you exit!)

You need a ticket, of course, to get on a train/enter the metro, but you also need to keep it until you leave. As the sign at left says: Quais réservés aux voyageurs munis d’un titre de transport valide, pouvant être contrôlé à tout moment. (Platforms reserved for travellers possessing a valid ticket, which may be verified at any moment.) And it’s that last part you have to watch out for. Train conductors can ask to see your ticket at any time … even right up to the exit of the platform on the other end of your ride. It’s one of the reasons you’ll often see lots and lots of used tickets around the exits of Paris train and subway stations. On many RER and metro lines you will even need your ticket to activate the automatic doors at the sortie (exit).

La Gare Saint-Lazare

The Saint-Lazare train station – with train lines serving the northern and western suburbs of the city as well as the north and west France, and housing a busy metro station – is one of Paris’s busiest transportation hubs. It’s also one of my favorites. It served as my gateway to the city for all the years I lived in Bois-Colombes, and it is a place I return to often when I’m in the city. It’s recently undergone a major renovation … including the addition of a monop’ (a little convenience shop that is part of the Monoprix chain).

* As long as there are none of those pesky grêves!
** In French, billion is milliard … not to be confused with millions. Un milliard is actually mille millions (a thousand millions).
*** Data from Chiffres-clés de la Région Île-de-France 2018 http://www.cci-paris-idf.fr/sites/default/files//crocis/wysiwyg/Chiffres-cles-2018derlight.pdf .

All photos (C) Tim Hildreth