Newbie Navigo

The Parisien transport system is extremely convenient and is such a luxury for me. I don’t drive and I love to walk, so cities like Paris or London are perfect for me. In Paris, even if you get lost, just wander around a bit and you’ll eventually find a way to a Metro Station or RER.

I am a bit puzzled however by their ticketing services. If you’re here for less than a week, then just buy those one-off paper tickets or a carnet (a bunch of 10 tickets), which you can use it anytime, as you please. However, when you buy the weekly or monthly carte orange, you will have to know the following facts:

1. If it’s your first time to get one, buy it at the ticket desk and not at the automated machines. You will need to get the paper card, paper ticket and the protective plastic cover that goes with it. You’ll also need a 1×1 pic for the ID portion.
2. The weekly ticket is from Monday-Sunday of the coming week and is available from the Wednesday before it. So for the week of the 26^th of March-1^st of April, you can buy it from the 21^st of March, 2007.
3. The monthly ticket is from the 1^st to the last day of the coming week and is available from the 20^th of the previous month.
4. You can also get a Navigo card, which is like London’s Oyster card. This is more convenient than the carte orange because you just need to tap it on the card readers installed at the barriers, instead of inserting a paper ticket. It also avoids the hassle of the occasional de-magnetized ticket, and avoids the mess of used up tickets littering the metro. You can get an application form at the ticket desks but it will take about 2 weeks before it gets to you. Again, have 1×1 pictures ready!!!
5. All this information is in www.ratp.fr, but of course, it won’t be in the english version of the page.

What I find a little weird is that inspite of being electronic; the Navigo still operates in the same fixed price – fixed period use of the tickets as the Carte Orange, (only that it looks nicer). It has speeds up getting through the barriers and to your train, but it hasn’t really revolutionized transport as much as only electronics and computers can.

I would have thought that being ‘pre-paid’ and electronic, surely you should be able to load it anytime so you can avoid the inevitable long queues everytime the end of the month comes near. Then again, this is a country where employees can take leaves almost all at the same time every year (which is August, tourists beware).