Out & About

Paris Street Mid-afternoon

Out and about. I have to admit that we were lost for a second when we took this one. Well we weren’t lost exactly, we just had to find our bus stop home. Taking the bus was an adventure all by itself.  The bus written on the street was for another bus, for the record.

The buses are pretty simple to navigate once you get the hang of it, but you really need a map to get going.  Since we need reduced fair tickets for the young ones we usually buy them in the subway via the automatic terminal.  You can buy ten and you get a decent discount.

You can buy a booklet or carnet of ten tickets which work for Metro (subway), Bus or Tram at 1,70€ for normal price or 12,75€ for 10 tickets.  The reduced ticket price for the young ones brings the price even lower to 10 tickets for 6,35€.

You can purchase two sets of the tickets at one time.  The machine is also quickly configurable to display English, although the process is not impossible to understand in French as well.  With tickets in hand, using the bus is a piece of cake.  You slide a ticket into the fair box and you can use one ticket twice, within an hour, to connect via bus.  If your ticket expires there is a loud buzz.  The process is relatively painless, however, the buses tend to be crowded, even if one passes right after another.  I never have waited for more than two or three minutes for a bus and each bus has been crowded.  People coming and people going.  I guess it is because the city is so large in such a small area.  But still it isn't impossible to get around and the transit system runs smoothly.

Resources:

Paris By Train

Metro Guide (about.com)