Navigo Easy Métro Pass

The Paris public-transit system is remarkable: The Métro system alone has more than 300 stations on 16 lines with a total length of 214 kilometers or 133 miles. Add in RER trains, buses, trams, the Montmartre funicular, and Transilien commuter rail, and you've got a network that will take you practically anywhere in the Paris region without any need for a car or taxi.

Still, the system has had an Achilles' heel: The traditional T+ cardboard tickets are a nuisance to carry around and don't always work with the magnetic ticket readers. But now there's a convenient solution: Navigo Easy, a stored-value plastic card from RATP (the Paris transit agency) with an embedded chip that replaces cardboard tickets.

Unlike other Paris transportation passes, Navigo Easy is a simple "pay as you go" card. You use it just like a T+ ticket, except that you swipe the card against an electronic reader instead of inserting a ticket into a turnstile slot.

What it costs:

The card itself costs €2,--, whether you're an adult or a child.

A single ride costs the same as a cardboard ticket: €2,15 for an adult or a child over 4 years of age. (Kids under 4 ride free.)

To save money, you can buy an electronic Navigo Easy carnet of 10 rides for €17,35, which represents a big discount over paper tickets. That works out to less than €1,75 per ride, which makes time-defined passes such as Paris Visite hardly worth the bother unless you plan to spend your day riding transit.

For children from ages 4 through 9, a carnet is half price.

You can also load a number of special fares onto Navigo Easy, such as Roissybus (for Charles de Gaulle Airport), Orlybus (Orly Airport), and an "all you can ride" Navigo Day Pass.

Where to buy Navigo Easy:

You can purchase a Navigo Easy card (with fares preloaded) at any Paris Métro or RER ticket booth. Pay in cash or with a credit or debit card. If you're buying cards for children, make this clear to the ticket agent.

We suggest asking for "Navigo Easy avec un carnet." The ticket agent will load 10 rides onto the card, so you'll be ready to use Navigo Easy right away.

How to use the card:

Simply hold your Navigo Easy card against the purple area on the turnstile or the bus card reader.

Please note:

• At some station exits, or when connecting between the Métro and RER, you may be required to swipe your card again to confirm that you've paid a fare.

• Navigo Easy is an "anonymous" card, with no photo or signature required. You can share it with other travelers, but not at the same time. (In other words, Joe can lend his card to Jo, but Joe and Jo can't travel together with a single card.)

Adding rides to your Navigo Easy card:

1. Look for the ticket machines in any Metro or RER station, and pick a machine with a purple card reader on the front.

3. Place and hold your Navigo Easy card against the purple reader.

4. Select the number of single-ride tickets or 10-ride carnets that you want to buy.

5. Click "Validate" to confirm your request.

6. Follow the payment instructions on the screen. (In this example, I used a foreign credit card.)

7. Place and hold your Navigo Easy card against the card reader again.

8. Wait while the machine loads your fares or carnets onto the card. When the process is complete, the screen will say "Your pass is now loaded."

9. Wait for your receipt to be printed.

10. Swipe to ride, using the purple card readers on station turnstiles, buses, and trams.

A confirmation window behind or below the scanner shows how many rides you have left. You can also check your fare balance at Navigo ticket machines or at ticket counters in stations.

For more information, see the RATP's Navigo Easy page.

About the author:

Durant Imboden is a professional travel writer, book author, and editor who focuses on European cities and transportation.

After 4-1/2 years of covering European travel topics for About.com, Durant and Cheryl Imboden co-founded Europe for Visitors (including Paris for Visitors) in 2001. The site has earned "Best of the Web" honors from Forbes and The Washington Post.

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