Also, tips for non-Parisians, when taking the metro (walking and taking escalators underground) stay on the right side to not bump into anyone or to not block the escalators' left side which is kinda used as the fast lane. I know a lot of cities have this unspoken rule as well but some cities (like Tokyo) apply the opposite rule (the right side is the "fast lane").
@@j.a.fortuny I've been to London for a few days less than two weeks ago, and everyone I've seen in the underground was staying to the right on the escalator (except for one or two people). Maybe it's something that has changed in recent years.
13:49 You could have added that during the night there are night buses (Noctilien) crossing the city and suburbs every 15 to 30 minutes. They don't stop everywhere but every 2-4 km, on major metro stations.
They aren't part of the Metro. Hence, the title, How the Paris Metro Works. Night buses will be on a post about How to use the bus system of Paris. Gee, they are different. Who'd a thunk it??!!😂😂😂😂😂 Peace out😊❤
You forgot something important: there are close to none lifts and one-way escalators, which makes the metro impossible for a wheelchair user. They're forced to take the much slower bus system. I experienced this with my disabled father a few days ago. It was hell. Thank God we visited Berlin as well, as we had no problems when taking the U5 line.
The most efficient system for people on a wheelchair is Pam: a dedicated network of adapted minivans that you can call like taxis, yet which are as cheap as the metro. There's no reason to bother taking the metro in such conditions. Also I don't understand your comment about escalators. They are everywhere in the Paris metro even though they are indeed not helpful for wheelchair users.
@@Clery75019the Paris metro is one of the least accessible metro systems in the world. Only 1 out of the 14 metro lines are accessible to people with big luggage, wheelchairs etc. It’s pathetic and shameful! Please travel outside of Paris to see how other cities do it.
@@Clery75019 as a lifelong wheelchair user living in a major metropolitan area, I can tell you I would much prefer to be able to access the main mass transit system than having to rely on a separate system of accessible vehicles.
@@superalejaI have no doubt on that. The problem is that 95% of the Paris metro is underground and building direct lift from the street to reach platform level would endanger the vault, requiring to rebuild it entirely. That's what is done on new stations since the 1970's, the problem is that most of the metro was built earlier than that.
Apart from Line 14 which is more of a normal metro line for nowadays standards, the average distance between stops on the older lines is closer to 450 m. The network was designed as an underground tram at first to compete with the trams on the surface to free the streets which were completely blocked during peak hours. So, if you are traveling for one or two stops only, it is not worth taking it, indeed. (unless it rains a lot or weather is very cold or too hot outside). Line 1 is a bit of an exception for the older lines, its average distance between stops is closer to 700 m thanks to the mostly straight alignment and the distance between points of interest. It was originally made to serve the businest axis of the city, the fasest possible while stopping everywhere interesting. When the metro was created, the City passed a Law to make sure that NO points of the city would be further than 400 m from any metro station of the network (it applies to the inner city only as the metro was supposed to be exclusively Parisian at first). From Etoile to Nation, RER A is much faster tthan Line 1, however avoid it during peak hours.
@@musicful7036I think the lower the number, the older the line. Line 1 was created in 1900. Line 14 in 1998. Lines 15 through 18 are currently being built and plan to open between 2025 and 2030. Note that every line has been extended through the years. Line 1 had 6 stops in 1900. Today it has 25. 😊
I spent around 5 years (2014-19) during my posting there. I used to live near Pont de Sevres in Bolougne Billancourt and take Metro 9 to reach my office which was (still there) in La Mutte. Sweet memories.
I loved the metro when I visited Paris in 2019. The app made everything so easy to navigate. I can’t believe they got rid of the paper tickets, but sounds like that would make things even easier since we didn’t always know which stations sold them.
This is extremely well edited and presented. I'll definitely be sending this to any far-away friends or family that might come to visit for the first time. It's quite amazing when you think the way Paris built its metro was not unique at all. So many cities around the world were ripping apart their streets 100 or so years ago and now we can casually get around.
Pro tip: if you are a tourist and you are using single paper tickets, buy a handful. Especially at touristy stops there are long queues at the few vending machines. So just buy five single tickets at a quiet station when/where there is no queue. If you wanna get on at Etole, Bir-Hakeim or Passy, just walk past the machine and to up the fare-gate and validate your ticket in two seconds.
also, never discard your ticket before you exit the metro! You may need it to exit or change lines and to prove that you purchased a ticket to the many RATP controllers patrolling the metro to check if you paid your fare!
I was traveling through Europe a couple months ago and the whole individual tickets for the Paris Metro was kinda weird since it was the only city that I visited that had that system, beautiful city and great video mate, greetings from Colombia :)
This was an excellent presentation. Through and easy to understand. It was so much easier to have my daughter watch this when she joined me in Paris, then me trying to explain it to her!! Merci beaucoup.😊
WOW! Great video. It was a pleasure to watch it and learn it. I love that you speak with this amazing french accent about metro in Paris, France. I hope your channel will grow quickly.
That explanation of the map was beautiful. You took all the overwhelming complexity of how the system is normally presented and cut through it to give us the insight of the general patterns of the layout. If I ever go to Paris, there's not a chance I would ever remember the map, and I have to look at it each and every time I wanted to go somewhere, but I will never forget your 3 simple rules. I wish the map designers would have colored the lines in a way that highlights exactly the patterns you pointed out Imagine being able to tell from just the line color if it goes where you need, even if you've never seen that route before. Instead, designers have this cargo-cult wisdom that lines need to be maximally distinguishable to avoid confusion at interchanges. This is both wrong and stupid. The value of having a "blue direction" for blue trains and a "red direction" for red trains is worth more than the harm caused by someone getting on the wrong blue-direction line by accident. Indeed I find when you start to look for the patterns, most metro systems everywhere can be summarized by just a handful of key interchanges and branching directions.
One other interesting fact: if you're in the metro and you see the sign that shows the names of the two terminus stations (line 6, étoile nation for example), generally the first station is towards the north or the west, and the bottom station is towards the south or the east. Useful if you can't remember the terminus station name but you know what direction you want to go in.
Great video going to Paris from Ireland with my wife and 3 kids next month for 4 days. It will be our first time there. Your video was so helpful and full of info.
4:47 you forgot line 4 (Line 1 was really designed to go east-west and line 4 to go north-south so it's an important mistake) 11:30 We have had transport cards (subscriptions) for a very long time (since 1975 with a magnetic stripe card, and since 1994 with a chip card). But in recent years it is possible to have cards storing virtual tickets. You can also put some passes on your phone. Don't worry, we're not late. For the schedules, it's quite correct but be careful, they can vary according to the lines and the works. But it's a good informative video for tourists!
Thanks for the comment and additional info ! You're right about line 4, I somehow missed that, even if it was my home line for a while... Although, I still think that, to me, the North-South / East-West directions are not really important in the use of the subway lines (or at least, not in the way they can be in NYC). I really wanted to emphasize this idea that the métro in Paris is a network system, not a "cardinal" system. Regarding the transport card, As this video is mostly aimed at people visiting / tourists, I felt the carte orange and the original Navigo weren't really relevant. For short term visitors and tourists it wasn't really a thing and they were stuck with the paper ticket. Now the system is pretty cool (just wish we could store the card on the iPhone and be fully done with the physical one). Loïc
@@PPKFilms Normally, iPhones will be able to store certain transport cards around the summer of 2023. Why there was no feature at the same time as Android is because Apple's much too closed ecosystem
@@PPKFilms Yeah I remember that the NaviGo stored-value cards already existed from way back in 2008, but were originally intended only for locals & not tourists to use (its webpage was only in French). I heard you also had to link it to a bank account, & you could be charged an additional fee if it was a foreign bank.
@@PPKFilms If I remember correctly, you can buy tickets with your phone by sending a message to a specific phone number. That said, I don't think you can store them (I believe it's a buy-now-use-now kind of thing)
I visited Paris in November. I noticed the Paris transportation system (metro, rer, buses, tram) is so easy to grasp as long as you have any city mapper application. Thank you for this information and i will certainly re-watch this vlog next time before i visit Paris. Thank you.
So glad to know this now, I'm going in April. The first time I was there (2019), I had no app (nor had done any research on the Metro), and ended up way outside the city as I was losing sunlight. I realized while watching this video it's because I accidentally got on the RER lol 😭
This is super helpful! My wife and I will be in Paris for the holidays in December, and we'll definitely be using The Metro. We've spent plenty of time in New York and Boston, and your system looks to be run about the same; still, it's nice to see how things are organized before our arrival. Again, thank you from Texas!
That was a lovely video. I had a little trouble with some of the transfers in the Metro, however. I think it might have been at Franklin D. Roosevelt where what looked like an easy transfer on the map turned out to be a long, tedious underground trek. I even came across a 3-way pedestrian tunnel intersection with signage. Not the kind of scenery that I like best about Paris. I was happier using a single Metro trip combined with the buses, which at least give you some nice views.
Merci beaucoup, je doit revisiter Paris! I remember how I lost the small ticket twice in Paris at the Gare de Lyon and the Centre Pompidou and found it again - twice. It makes it easier with a travel card. Another incredible travel hack is to use Eurail / Interrail in Europe and there are high speed trains between Germany and Paris with the TGV.
I love how extensive the Paris Metro is! Only thing I didn't like was the small train tickets. I remember back in 2016 sometimes losing them because they are so small, I probably accidentally tossed them out, thinking it was garbage, LOL. Edit: Ahh, the memories at 11:25! Glad they're updating those small tickets.
now you can stock them inside android device and you have navigo easy (it's 2€ and you can stock all your ticket it's work like classic navigo for recharges but it only work inside Paris Zone 1) but theses small ticket are still sold
And 200 km of additional lines are being built! Another tourist thing to do, for train fans at least, visiting the sites where construction is going on, especially year after until the different openings...
I think that city mapper is the most efficient way to use the metro (rather than the RATP app). Besides that, i think that you could have mentionned the fact that altough it's not a 24/24h system, the metro is replaced during night time by pretty efficient buses that covers the entire city (and mostly the suburbs), it's very slow, it's sometimes not the friendliest (keep your purse close to you) but it's a great way to enjoy the night life without paying for an uber (you also can rent for very cheap bikes to get home safe)
Thank you for this information. One question, three people traveling in Paris for 3 days. We will not have a cellphone, have a credit card, no pin number. Will this be an issue? Merci in advance
I like line 2 best because it has a big part above ground and its trains have better airing and sound-deadening than most others so it's a less strenuous ride...
Does it similarly like London map. I like to go Paris and like see Eiffel Tower and other nice places close to Eiffel Tower and Eurostar close station. Please kindly help me
amazing video- really helpful! !--- I ll be staying in paris (from 1-7 july). I m going with my wife and 2 daughters (10 and 8). My Airbnb is 2 minute walk from Val d'Europe train station. I m gona be landing on CDG Airport on July 1 and I will depart from Orly airport on the 7th of July.and my next stop will be stockholm. My questions are--- 1-will this Navigo Decouverte 1 week pass be enough to cover all my transportation expenses during my trip (knowing that I want to go to Versailles, Disneyland Paris, orly airport ,and central paris). The problem is that I heard that Navigo pass validity starts on Monday morning and ends the following Sunday. So if this is the case, what shall I do for (1-2 july duration??!).-i heard navigo easy will not help me since i will be using the RER to go to central paris and i m basically living in zone 5-so ,,.shall i use the 2 daily mobilis day pass for my 1st 2 days?or is there a better idea? 2-i heard that there would be some strikes that would interrupt train schedules. Is that true? If yes , how can I verify that my trip will not be affected by that. 3-i ll leave from orly airport on 7 july, = what is the cheapest way to go there,,(flight departure time is 1630), what time shall I leave from my Airbnb?
4- i want to buy a pre paid phone sim card so that i could make calls and use the internet in france and sweden. so shall i get this from the Tourist Information at Terminal 1 ? or shall i get this from Serris(maybe cheaper?!)? is there a specific carrier that i should go with? or shall i use this www.amazon.com/Orange-Holiday-CardCOMBO-Authorized-International/dp/B07RYLB6PK ?i want this to work till my departure day from sweden(16 july). thanks again for the great help!
Paris actually has contactless cards since 1998. Paper tickets were only kept for occasional visitors. And as a matter of fact, paper tickets had many advantages that are lost with a contactless card for occasional visitors. For instance, you could share tickets between different people whereas you have to get your own individual pass with a contactless card. It was also easier to keep track about the number of trips that you could make as you simply had to count your tickets, whereas that information isn't visible on the pass.
I have now spent 2 trips in france using public transit to visit all my family and get around, and i have to say i wish i had this much public transit at home. On my most recent trip after just a few days my mom and i split up at Saint-Lazare so we could run our own errands and then met up at a boulangerie a few hours later, i honestly dont think i could do that in my city and feel confident about it. (My mom grew up taking the metro to get to and from school and generally getting around, so it was mostly me we were worried about)
I don't know if it's because you're talking about a french subject, but i find your english very clear and pleasantly understandable ; for a french person. Not a strange accent where "r" are says like in russian, or with "a" sounding like "o"... I hate those videos I can't understand 😅
Found the Metro very easy to use, map logical, and multi day ticket was brilliant. Best of was the regularity of service - as an Australian train user this something I hope we catch up to the rest of the world on this very soon. The only issue my wife and I had was finding our way out. We learn't that Sortie meant exit, but some of the exits had almost circular signs and we couldn't find our way out.
wish i saw this before i went to paris. When I went they had the strike so from airport to notre dame, I took 3 hours to get there. Half the time I was in the airport lost. The second half was train, bus, train and transfer to another line.
After an overnight transatlantic flight, I arrived at Charles De Gaulle and made the mistake of getting on the RER slow train. It stopped at every station except the one I bought a ticket for in the south end. Total nightmare but at least I know where I went wrong if I ever go back.
Hello I like go first Time from London to Paris, for one day trip, From Gare du nord how do will see very easily and cheap, save time. Cos only one day trip. How do will see main things time cover from gara du Nord, cos I am new. Can like study before go Paris how do go
Im french and have always lived in Paris and for some reason UA-cam thought it was a video i could found useful. It wasn't. But I wanted to say that your video is very clear and very well explained and will be or have already been very useful to anyone who would have to come to Paris. Just one thing though about the smartphone app. I'd rather recommand "citymapper". I find it easier to understand, it gives a lot of different possibilities, using any transport system (bus, bike, car ...etc) available in the city, in real time if there is an issue on any metro line, and also indicates you if you should get in the front or the back of train according to your destination.
Tip : if u plan to use the metro a lot, u should buy 10 tickets straight away ( "1 carnet=10 tickets" costs approximately between 14-17€ i think, which equals to a single ticket costing around 1,4-1,7€) instead of buying tickets one buy one as a single ticket costs 1,9€
yes Navigo can be used in metro, trams, RER, regional trains (transilien), buses, even some boats on the Seine but be careful to select the rights zones. zone 1 will only allow you to travel inside Paris proper
I see the video even if I am from Ile-De-France good video and information are true but the last train is not at 01:15am in all the lines, it's not the same on line 10 and line 4 but except this good job :)
I love Paris but thinking that the last train home is going 1:15 or 2:15 is seriously going to make me reconsider... why dondt they just let them ride longer?
The system is 122 years old. They need a few hours without traffic to maintain it. There are still the 'noctiliens', the night buses, which you can use with the same metro ticket.
need to do maintenance change railways verify station sometimes they work on automation of lines (life the 4) or need to connect to extension (like 14 that closed night and sometimes sunday)
We have a beautiful thing called the code du travail. Also : we have buses that are very efficient at night + you can always rent velib', there is no car traffic and a lot of cyclable roads so it is very safe to do so
Please kindly tell me how do will find very close to from Gare du nord tourist looking nice please metro or order bus train. Like to see special Eiffel Tower other famous things closer station around. I like to Paris my dear long long time. But I am thinking when will go Europe start from London to Paris one day trip. How do will know where go first and where do start first like to see. Save time. And with back again same day train last train from Paris Please how do do this kind please please help me c
'Circulation' is a false friend. It's called 'traffic' in English. Don't worry, I get caught out by false friends all the time when I attempt to speak French...
Guys I have to say I would have liked to see line 4 get a north-south mention at least; also the fastest way between Étoile and Nation would surely be the RER A and I think it doesn't educate viewers well if you just say that it's line 1 anyways only to illustrate the network effect, which I did appreciate anyways. Also about the fare, if you stay during a week getting a weekly pass is actually much cheaper than the 1-5 day tickets, even in all zones. I know it might have been hard to mention this but I feel like people would deserve to know, especially with this bright trip savy traveler kind of attitude the video seems to attempt to evoke.
Nice, comprehensive video on the Paris Metro. However I personally would not recommend the RATP app for international visitors as it doesn't support languages other than French and is overall much more of a hassle to use compared to Google Maps which works just fine. I tried using the app on various occasions during my several trips to Paris this year however couldn't really make any use of it and was instead well served by Google Maps in that department.
i recommend citymapper for easily navigating paris! its very well informed and gives you a bunch of options, wether u wanna take the bus, metro, rer, taxi...
VERY IMPORTANT FOR TOURISTS. YOU WILL GET FINED IF YOU DONT OBAY BY THIS RULE. Paris's T+ tickets have a HUGE disadvantage : If you make a transport mode change you can only do these transfers : - BUS/BUS - BUS/TRAM - TRAM/TRAM - METRO/METRO - RER/RER - RER/METRO The most common example is if you are in the 8 eme and you decide to see a concert at la villette. You will naturally do rer E from st. Lazare to Rosa parks then take t3b to porte de la villette. You MUST use another ticket if you make this change. The RATP know this and will do ticket inspection on the T3b on concerts days for this purpose. the other common example is that bus drivers in Paris won't tell you if your ticket doesn't work. So if you transfer on the bus please use another ticket. I suggest is if you are going to take multiple times the public transport buy day tickets. If you take the noctilian please read the ticketing scheme because tourists always get fined when there is a ticket inspection.
In Paris, you're never more than 500m from a station. It's hard to judge distances due to the nature of the street layout. Compared to Manhattan, each street is about a minute to walk. 15 blocks = 15 minutes. Avenues are about 3x streets so 3 avenues = 9 blocks. Using Google maps in Paris makes it easier to figure out which method is faster.
Not accurate. When the metro system 1st started having its boom, being used and appreciated to move around the city, it was the municipality's idea that no one in Paris should live further than 400 meters away from a subway station, hence it being so radial and branching off into so many directions with almost no overlapping. Nevertheless, things evolve and that idea kind of faded. And whilst many stations are indeed close to each other on one line and even across lines, the newer ones tend to be further apart (e.g. line 4 Mairie de Montrouge - Barbara, line 14 Châtelet - Pyramides, line 12 Front Populaire - Aimé-Césaire, all over 900 meters apart).
Most maps are a really abstract representation of the metro systems but look at the NY map, this is probably the only example where they accurately depict rivers and the subways are not mapped into straight lines.
Also, tips for non-Parisians, when taking the metro (walking and taking escalators underground) stay on the right side to not bump into anyone or to not block the escalators' left side which is kinda used as the fast lane. I know a lot of cities have this unspoken rule as well but some cities (like Tokyo) apply the opposite rule (the right side is the "fast lane").
maybe this corresponds to the way they drive? like in paris on the right and in japan on the left? but i really dont know :D
@@bneshel1514 I think they stand on the right side in London too, even though they drive on the left
@@orsaz924 Nope, in London they stay on the left, people usually stay the furthest from the middle if there are 2 directions, like cars.
@@j.a.fortuny I've been to London for a few days less than two weeks ago, and everyone I've seen in the underground was staying to the right on the escalator (except for one or two people). Maybe it's something that has changed in recent years.
@@orsaz924 im quite sure they stand to the right side on the escalator but walk on the left side in the corridors which confused me a bit
13:49 You could have added that during the night there are night buses (Noctilien) crossing the city and suburbs every 15 to 30 minutes. They don't stop everywhere but every 2-4 km, on major metro stations.
Hence using an app for planning a trip, especially at the last second, is so useful. Still knowing how everything works more or less is useful.
They aren't part of the Metro. Hence, the title, How the Paris Metro Works. Night buses will be on a post about How to use the bus system of Paris. Gee, they are different. Who'd a thunk it??!!😂😂😂😂😂 Peace out😊❤
This was super fun to make and I hope this helps all of you who plan on travelling in Paris in the future ! Thanks Driaan for the insane editing 🤘
You forgot something important: there are close to none lifts and one-way escalators, which makes the metro impossible for a wheelchair user. They're forced to take the much slower bus system. I experienced this with my disabled father a few days ago. It was hell. Thank God we visited Berlin as well, as we had no problems when taking the U5 line.
The most efficient system for people on a wheelchair is Pam: a dedicated network of adapted minivans that you can call like taxis, yet which are as cheap as the metro. There's no reason to bother taking the metro in such conditions.
Also I don't understand your comment about escalators. They are everywhere in the Paris metro even though they are indeed not helpful for wheelchair users.
@@Clery75019it's particularity of the English syntax but he meant they are no lifts and almost only one way escalators (which is kinda true)
@@Clery75019the Paris metro is one of the least accessible metro systems in the world. Only 1 out of the 14 metro lines are accessible to people with big luggage, wheelchairs etc.
It’s pathetic and shameful! Please travel outside of Paris to see how other cities do it.
@@Clery75019 as a lifelong wheelchair user living in a major metropolitan area, I can tell you I would much prefer to be able to access the main mass transit system than having to rely on a separate system of accessible vehicles.
@@superalejaI have no doubt on that. The problem is that 95% of the Paris metro is underground and building direct lift from the street to reach platform level would endanger the vault, requiring to rebuild it entirely. That's what is done on new stations since the 1970's, the problem is that most of the metro was built earlier than that.
Apart from Line 14 which is more of a normal metro line for nowadays standards, the average distance between stops on the older lines is closer to 450 m. The network was designed as an underground tram at first to compete with the trams on the surface to free the streets which were completely blocked during peak hours.
So, if you are traveling for one or two stops only, it is not worth taking it, indeed. (unless it rains a lot or weather is very cold or too hot outside).
Line 1 is a bit of an exception for the older lines, its average distance between stops is closer to 700 m thanks to the mostly straight alignment and the distance between points of interest. It was originally made to serve the businest axis of the city, the fasest possible while stopping everywhere interesting.
When the metro was created, the City passed a Law to make sure that NO points of the city would be further than 400 m from any metro station of the network (it applies to the inner city only as the metro was supposed to be exclusively Parisian at first).
From Etoile to Nation, RER A is much faster tthan Line 1, however avoid it during peak hours.
Thanks for the additional info ! For rer between nation and étoile, the script had a line about it but we didn’t want to overcomplicate things !
Indeed RER can be used as a kind of express metro, at least relative to the existing Paris metro lines.
Btw that 400m law is almost true everywhere
You mentioned "the older lines" , so what are the "newer lines"? how can tourists know what lines are "newer" or "older"?
@@musicful7036I think the lower the number, the older the line. Line 1 was created in 1900. Line 14 in 1998. Lines 15 through 18 are currently being built and plan to open between 2025 and 2030. Note that every line has been extended through the years. Line 1 had 6 stops in 1900. Today it has 25. 😊
I spent around 5 years (2014-19) during my posting there. I used to live near Pont de Sevres in Bolougne Billancourt and take Metro 9 to reach my office which was (still there) in La Mutte. Sweet memories.
I loved the metro when I visited Paris in 2019. The app made everything so easy to navigate. I can’t believe they got rid of the paper tickets, but sounds like that would make things even easier since we didn’t always know which stations sold them.
They still exist but not for long
I crossed the Seine on line 6 this summer without knowing that I would have such a view. It was a truly magic moment!
This is extremely well edited and presented. I'll definitely be sending this to any far-away friends or family that might come to visit for the first time.
It's quite amazing when you think the way Paris built its metro was not unique at all. So many cities around the world were ripping apart their streets 100 or so years ago and now we can casually get around.
Pro tip: if you are a tourist and you are using single paper tickets, buy a handful. Especially at touristy stops there are long queues at the few vending machines. So just buy five single tickets at a quiet station when/where there is no queue. If you wanna get on at Etole, Bir-Hakeim or Passy, just walk past the machine and to up the fare-gate and validate your ticket in two seconds.
also, never discard your ticket before you exit the metro! You may need it to exit or change lines and to prove that you purchased a ticket to the many RATP controllers patrolling the metro to check if you paid your fare!
nah, don't buy five, buy them ten by ten it's cheaper
I was traveling through Europe a couple months ago and the whole individual tickets for the Paris Metro was kinda weird since it was the only city that I visited that had that system, beautiful city and great video mate, greetings from Colombia :)
There's a pass/card system called "Navigo" but I wouldn't recommend buying it if you're only staying for a short time
One side effect of the individual tickets: around Montmartre we could find Metro stations by the piles of little tickets littering the area.
Heading to Paris in April - this was so in depth and helpful! Thank you 🎉🇫🇷
This was an excellent presentation. Through and easy to understand. It was so much easier to have my daughter watch this when she joined me in Paris, then me trying to explain it to her!! Merci beaucoup.😊
This video has really whet my appetite for visiting Paris, and given me confidence that when I do, I'll be able to find my way around the city. Bravo!
Line 6 looks like an amazing view of the city. Glad I stuck around till the end :)
This is the line with the most aerial sections (3 to be precise) 60% of the route is aerial.
I gave up trying to figure out the zones. Then I found your video on my 4th night.Well done. Thanks!! ❤❤❤ From Paris.
WOW! Great video. It was a pleasure to watch it and learn it. I love that you speak with this amazing french accent about metro in Paris, France. I hope your channel will grow quickly.
That explanation of the map was beautiful. You took all the overwhelming complexity of how the system is normally presented and cut through it to give us the insight of the general patterns of the layout. If I ever go to Paris, there's not a chance I would ever remember the map, and I have to look at it each and every time I wanted to go somewhere, but I will never forget your 3 simple rules.
I wish the map designers would have colored the lines in a way that highlights exactly the patterns you pointed out Imagine being able to tell from just the line color if it goes where you need, even if you've never seen that route before. Instead, designers have this cargo-cult wisdom that lines need to be maximally distinguishable to avoid confusion at interchanges. This is both wrong and stupid. The value of having a "blue direction" for blue trains and a "red direction" for red trains is worth more than the harm caused by someone getting on the wrong blue-direction line by accident.
Indeed I find when you start to look for the patterns, most metro systems everywhere can be summarized by just a handful of key interchanges and branching directions.
Oke I'm from Paris and I'm looking at your video and learning new things x) (Terrific video 🔥)
One other interesting fact: if you're in the metro and you see the sign that shows the names of the two terminus stations (line 6, étoile nation for example), generally the first station is towards the north or the west, and the bottom station is towards the south or the east. Useful if you can't remember the terminus station name but you know what direction you want to go in.
Thanks for a very detailed explanation of the Paris Metro. It helps visitors like us.
Great video going to Paris from Ireland with my wife and 3 kids next month for 4 days. It will be our first time there. Your video was so helpful and full of info.
4:47 you forgot line 4 (Line 1 was really designed to go east-west and line 4 to go north-south so it's an important mistake)
11:30 We have had transport cards (subscriptions) for a very long time (since 1975 with a magnetic stripe card, and since 1994 with a chip card). But in recent years it is possible to have cards storing virtual tickets. You can also put some passes on your phone. Don't worry, we're not late.
For the schedules, it's quite correct but be careful, they can vary according to the lines and the works.
But it's a good informative video for tourists!
Thanks for the comment and additional info ! You're right about line 4, I somehow missed that, even if it was my home line for a while... Although, I still think that, to me, the North-South / East-West directions are not really important in the use of the subway lines (or at least, not in the way they can be in NYC). I really wanted to emphasize this idea that the métro in Paris is a network system, not a "cardinal" system.
Regarding the transport card, As this video is mostly aimed at people visiting / tourists, I felt the carte orange and the original Navigo weren't really relevant. For short term visitors and tourists it wasn't really a thing and they were stuck with the paper ticket. Now the system is pretty cool (just wish we could store the card on the iPhone and be fully done with the physical one).
Loïc
@@PPKFilms Normally, iPhones will be able to store certain transport cards around the summer of 2023. Why there was no feature at the same time as Android is because Apple's much too closed ecosystem
@@PPKFilms Yeah I remember that the NaviGo stored-value cards already existed from way back in 2008, but were originally intended only for locals & not tourists to use (its webpage was only in French). I heard you also had to link it to a bank account, & you could be charged an additional fee if it was a foreign bank.
@@PPKFilms If I remember correctly, you can buy tickets with your phone by sending a message to a specific phone number. That said, I don't think you can store them (I believe it's a buy-now-use-now kind of thing)
Thanks!
I visited Paris in November. I noticed the Paris transportation system (metro, rer, buses, tram) is so easy to grasp as long as you have any city mapper application. Thank you for this information and i will certainly re-watch this vlog next time before i visit Paris. Thank you.
So glad to know this now, I'm going in April. The first time I was there (2019), I had no app (nor had done any research on the Metro), and ended up way outside the city as I was losing sunlight. I realized while watching this video it's because I accidentally got on the RER lol 😭
@@sainters7 😅Sorry. Happens to a lot of us. Hope you enjoy your April trip.
@@BensonNyasae thank you, I can't wait!!
Very detailed, I'll pass this link to a transit producer here on UA-cam
That'd be great. We have another on the NY metro and lots more to come on destinations all over the world!
ua-cam.com/video/fgTKTs33NLY/v-deo.html
Visited Paris this past July but stayed in Arcueil, just off of the RER B line. It was super easy to get in and out of the city
I liked Paris metro. Really great and memorable experience.
This is super helpful! My wife and I will be in Paris for the holidays in December, and we'll definitely be using The Metro. We've spent plenty of time in New York and Boston, and your system looks to be run about the same; still, it's nice to see how things are organized before our arrival. Again, thank you from Texas!
Glad it was helpful!
That was a lovely video. I had a little trouble with some of the transfers in the Metro, however. I think it might have been at Franklin D. Roosevelt where what looked like an easy transfer on the map turned out to be a long, tedious underground trek. I even came across a 3-way pedestrian tunnel intersection with signage. Not the kind of scenery that I like best about Paris.
I was happier using a single Metro trip combined with the buses, which at least give you some nice views.
Loic you absolute legend!
the editing here is insanely beautiful amd soothing, PROPS!
If you want to go to Nation from Place de l'étoile the best option isnt' line 1 but RER A ;)
I know :) but we didn’t want to overcomplicate things 😅
Lived in Paris for 4 years and wish I had seen this ages ago! Very helpful indeed, thank you! :-)
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you for the video! Very informative! I had a lot of fun watching it! Thank you !!!
Going to Paris soon and even though i've been before this has been really helpful! Especially with knowledge of the app now
Merci beaucoup, je doit revisiter Paris! I remember how I lost the small ticket twice in Paris at the Gare de Lyon and the Centre Pompidou and found it again - twice. It makes it easier with a travel card. Another incredible travel hack is to use Eurail / Interrail in Europe and there are high speed trains between Germany and Paris with the TGV.
Awesome way of Guiding..... Love it. Thank you very much dude. 🙏👏🎉👍👍👍👍👍
Glad you enjoyed it!
I love how extensive the Paris Metro is! Only thing I didn't like was the small train tickets. I remember back in 2016 sometimes losing them because they are so small, I probably accidentally tossed them out, thinking it was garbage, LOL.
Edit: Ahh, the memories at 11:25! Glad they're updating those small tickets.
Never put them with your phone
now you can stock them inside android device and you have navigo easy (it's 2€ and you can stock all your ticket it's work like classic navigo for recharges but it only work inside Paris Zone 1) but theses small ticket are still sold
And 200 km of additional lines are being built! Another tourist thing to do, for train fans at least, visiting the sites where construction is going on, especially year after until the different openings...
I ❤ your pronunciation of the RER. As a Dutch person i read them as 1 word.
Yes Loïc!!!
12:59 Orly airport is in Zone 4 : )
I have a question, which is a better project to build first and RER or metro. Especially for a big city
Thank you this was very helpful , the app remind me of city mapper, that one i use in london, is it better to use bonjour than city mapper in paris ?
I think that city mapper is the most efficient way to use the metro (rather than the RATP app).
Besides that, i think that you could have mentionned the fact that altough it's not a 24/24h system, the metro is replaced during night time by pretty efficient buses that covers the entire city (and mostly the suburbs), it's very slow, it's sometimes not the friendliest (keep your purse close to you) but it's a great way to enjoy the night life without paying for an uber (you also can rent for very cheap bikes to get home safe)
very helpful and nice visuals.
Thank you for this information. One question, three people traveling in Paris for 3 days. We will not have a cellphone, have a credit card, no pin number. Will this be an issue? Merci in advance
i used the RER to go the Luxembourg Garden and Montparnasse
Thanks for your video
I am from Spain and I wish to visit Paris ✌️✌️👍👍👍
I like line 2 best because it has a big part above ground and its trains have better airing and sound-deadening than most others so it's a less strenuous ride...
Thanks for sharing and love for Paris ❤️👍
Thank you for this great video.
Does it similarly like London map. I like to go Paris and like see Eiffel Tower and other nice places close to Eiffel Tower and Eurostar close station. Please kindly help me
I remember the Metro having first- and second-class tickets when I visited Paris in 1982. I take it that’s no longer the case?
Two corrections. Often the bus is faster than the métro and more direct. Also, the quickest trip from Place de l'étoile to Nation is to take RER A!
I found the best trick is to pick a line you like the look of and go wherever it takes you.
Merci, this is really helpful!
amazing video- really helpful! !---
I ll be staying in paris (from 1-7 july). I m going with my wife and 2 daughters (10 and 8). My Airbnb is 2 minute walk from Val d'Europe train station. I m gona be landing on CDG Airport on July 1 and I will depart from Orly airport on the 7th of July.and my next stop will be stockholm.
My questions are---
1-will this Navigo Decouverte 1 week pass be enough to cover all my transportation expenses during my trip (knowing that I want to go to Versailles, Disneyland Paris, orly airport ,and central paris). The problem is that I heard that Navigo pass validity starts on Monday morning and ends the following Sunday. So if this is the case, what shall I do for (1-2 july duration??!).-i heard navigo easy will not help me since i will be using the RER to go to central paris and i m basically living in zone 5-so ,,.shall i use the 2 daily mobilis day pass for my 1st 2 days?or is there a better idea?
2-i heard that there would be some strikes that would interrupt train schedules. Is that true? If yes , how can I verify that my trip will not be affected by that.
3-i ll leave from orly airport on 7 july, = what is the cheapest way to go there,,(flight departure time is 1630), what time shall I leave from my Airbnb?
4- i want to buy a pre paid phone sim card so that i could make calls and use the internet in france and sweden. so shall i get this from the Tourist Information at Terminal 1 ? or shall i get this from Serris(maybe cheaper?!)? is there a specific carrier that i should go with?
or shall i use this
www.amazon.com/Orange-Holiday-CardCOMBO-Authorized-International/dp/B07RYLB6PK
?i want this to work till my departure day from sweden(16 july).
thanks again for the great help!
Paris actually has contactless cards since 1998. Paper tickets were only kept for occasional visitors. And as a matter of fact, paper tickets had many advantages that are lost with a contactless card for occasional visitors. For instance, you could share tickets between different people whereas you have to get your own individual pass with a contactless card. It was also easier to keep track about the number of trips that you could make as you simply had to count your tickets, whereas that information isn't visible on the pass.
3:37 Why there's a seine river on top of another seine river?!!
The Canal de l'Ourcq maybe
I have now spent 2 trips in france using public transit to visit all my family and get around, and i have to say i wish i had this much public transit at home. On my most recent trip after just a few days my mom and i split up at Saint-Lazare so we could run our own errands and then met up at a boulangerie a few hours later, i honestly dont think i could do that in my city and feel confident about it. (My mom grew up taking the metro to get to and from school and generally getting around, so it was mostly me we were worried about)
Bonjour! Merci bien! ♥ So many questions answered in your video! I am feeling MORE confident now!
Awesome! Confidence for travelers is the goal!!
Is it possible to just walk around paris? Domestic feel like buying a bundle ticket
I don't know if it's because you're talking about a french subject, but i find your english very clear and pleasantly understandable ; for a french person.
Not a strange accent where "r" are says like in russian, or with "a" sounding like "o"... I hate those videos I can't understand 😅
Found the Metro very easy to use, map logical, and multi day ticket was brilliant. Best of was the regularity of service - as an Australian train user this something I hope we catch up to the rest of the world on this very soon.
The only issue my wife and I had was finding our way out. We learn't that Sortie meant exit, but some of the exits had almost circular signs and we couldn't find our way out.
wish i saw this before i went to paris. When I went they had the strike so from airport to notre dame, I took 3 hours to get there. Half the time I was in the airport lost. The second half was train, bus, train and transfer to another line.
Excellent video. TY.
After an overnight transatlantic flight, I arrived at Charles De Gaulle and made the mistake of getting on the RER slow train. It stopped at every station except the one I bought a ticket for in the south end. Total nightmare but at least I know where I went wrong if I ever go back.
Hello I like go first Time from London to Paris, for one day trip,
From Gare du nord how do will see very easily and cheap, save time. Cos only one day trip. How do will see main things time cover from gara du Nord, cos I am new.
Can like study before go Paris how do go
Have you guys made a video on New Delhi metro system??
Not yet, but we'll add it to the list!
@@BrightTripTravel will be waiting for it
I don't know about the official RATP app but I used the Citymapper one and it felt like a cheat code!
Very helpful, thank you.
Im french and have always lived in Paris and for some reason UA-cam thought it was a video i could found useful. It wasn't. But I wanted to say that your video is very clear and very well explained and will be or have already been very useful to anyone who would have to come to Paris. Just one thing though about the smartphone app. I'd rather recommand "citymapper". I find it easier to understand, it gives a lot of different possibilities, using any transport system (bus, bike, car ...etc) available in the city, in real time if there is an issue on any metro line, and also indicates you if you should get in the front or the back of train according to your destination.
Same here 😂 J'ai cliqué et je suis allé voir les commentaires direct 😂
pareil ici aussi 😂
Tip : if u plan to use the metro a lot, u should buy 10 tickets straight away ( "1 carnet=10 tickets" costs approximately between 14-17€ i think, which equals to a single ticket costing around 1,4-1,7€) instead of buying tickets one buy one as a single ticket costs 1,9€
If you plan to go outside Paris like Versailles, there are special tickets for one or several days that are quite cheap
Hi.. Can we get to travel both on Metro and RER using the card you showed?
yes Navigo can be used in metro, trams, RER, regional trains (transilien), buses, even some boats on the Seine
but be careful to select the rights zones. zone 1 will only allow you to travel inside Paris proper
I only take the metro if I'm travelling quite far or if it's VERY warm weather!
I see the video even if I am from Ile-De-France
good video and information are true but the last train is not at 01:15am in all the lines, it's not the same on line 10 and line 4 but except this good job :)
Thanks ! Goal was to give a rough estimate as anything more precise would have been hard to make digestible :)
I'm glad Santiago took the best elements from the french metro systems to design ours.
I love Paris but thinking that the last train home is going 1:15 or 2:15 is seriously going to make me reconsider... why dondt they just let them ride longer?
The system is 122 years old. They need a few hours without traffic to maintain it. There are still the 'noctiliens', the night buses, which you can use with the same metro ticket.
need to do maintenance change railways verify station sometimes they work on automation of lines (life the 4) or need to connect to extension (like 14 that closed night and sometimes sunday)
We have a beautiful thing called the code du travail.
Also : we have buses that are very efficient at night + you can always rent velib', there is no car traffic and a lot of cyclable roads so it is very safe to do so
Well done!
Great video!!!!
Loads of information. 👍👍
Thank you!
You're welcome!
Please kindly tell me how do will find very close to from Gare du nord tourist looking nice please metro or order bus train. Like to see special Eiffel Tower other famous things closer station around.
I like to Paris my dear long long time. But I am thinking when will go Europe start from London to Paris one day trip. How do will know where go first and where do start first like to see. Save time.
And with back again same day train last train from Paris
Please how do do this kind please please help me c
Thanks
Don't forget the bus network, that's also useful if you're not in a hurry ('cause of circulation) to visit the city on surface.
'Circulation' is a false friend. It's called 'traffic' in English. Don't worry, I get caught out by false friends all the time when I attempt to speak French...
@@anglaismoyen thanks
Many people think that if the distance between each metro station is less than 500 meters, short-distance travelers of
plzzzz do more metros
I’m warming to Paris already
Not me, a parisian, knowing exactly how the system works, watching this video 😭
1:05 Hmmm, I've found a bike is much faster (and more reliable) than the metro. The only downside is when it's raining.
Guys I have to say I would have liked to see line 4 get a north-south mention at least; also the fastest way between Étoile and Nation would surely be the RER A and I think it doesn't educate viewers well if you just say that it's line 1 anyways only to illustrate the network effect, which I did appreciate anyways.
Also about the fare, if you stay during a week getting a weekly pass is actually much cheaper than the 1-5 day tickets, even in all zones. I know it might have been hard to mention this but I feel like people would deserve to know, especially with this bright trip savy traveler kind of attitude the video seems to attempt to evoke.
super vidéo !
Nice, comprehensive video on the Paris Metro. However I personally would not recommend the RATP app for international visitors as it doesn't support languages other than French and is overall much more of a hassle to use compared to Google Maps which works just fine. I tried using the app on various occasions during my several trips to Paris this year however couldn't really make any use of it and was instead well served by Google Maps in that department.
Forget app, paper maps are far more convenient and maps can be found in every station, plate-forme or outside.
i recommend citymapper for easily navigating paris! its very well informed and gives you a bunch of options, wether u wanna take the bus, metro, rer, taxi...
VERY IMPORTANT FOR TOURISTS. YOU WILL GET FINED IF YOU DONT OBAY BY THIS RULE.
Paris's T+ tickets have a HUGE disadvantage : If you make a transport mode change you can only do these transfers :
- BUS/BUS
- BUS/TRAM
- TRAM/TRAM
- METRO/METRO
- RER/RER
- RER/METRO
The most common example is if you are in the 8 eme and you decide to see a concert at la villette. You will naturally do rer E from st. Lazare to Rosa parks then take t3b to porte de la villette. You MUST use another ticket if you make this change. The RATP know this and will do ticket inspection on the T3b on concerts days for this purpose.
the other common example is that bus drivers in Paris won't tell you if your ticket doesn't work. So if you transfer on the bus please use another ticket.
I suggest is if you are going to take multiple times the public transport buy day tickets.
If you take the noctilian please read the ticketing scheme because tourists always get fined when there is a ticket inspection.
you should do bucharest
You forgot the transillien with line l,j,h,k,u,n,p,r this is train go in the big couronne the larg banlieue more distance than rer
In Paris, you're never more than 500m from a station. It's hard to judge distances due to the nature of the street layout.
Compared to Manhattan, each street is about a minute to walk. 15 blocks = 15 minutes. Avenues are about 3x streets so 3 avenues = 9 blocks.
Using Google maps in Paris makes it easier to figure out which method is faster.
just norrmal american here I see - let's use measurment in swimming pool :p
Not accurate.
When the metro system 1st started having its boom, being used and appreciated to move around the city, it was the municipality's idea that no one in Paris should live further than 400 meters away from a subway station, hence it being so radial and branching off into so many directions with almost no overlapping.
Nevertheless, things evolve and that idea kind of faded. And whilst many stations are indeed close to each other on one line and even across lines, the newer ones tend to be further apart (e.g. line 4 Mairie de Montrouge - Barbara, line 14 Châtelet - Pyramides, line 12 Front Populaire - Aimé-Césaire, all over 900 meters apart).
I used the system back in the 80s. It was easy.
Most maps are a really abstract representation of the metro systems but look at the NY map, this is probably the only example where they accurately depict rivers and the subways are not mapped into straight lines.