The traditional paper metro tickets in Paris will soon be history.
Nov 6, 2025, 4:46 amNov 6, 2025, 4:46 am
The sale of tickets has now been stopped across the entire Paris metro and S-Bahn network, the Paris public transport authority RATP announced. This will be replaced by electronically reloadable cards and subscriptions as well as tickets on smartphones, which are already used by the majority of travelers.
The Paris Metro is saying goodbye to paper tickets.Image: keystone
The range of paper tickets had previously been reduced step by step. Two years ago, the “Carnet de 10”, which was particularly popular with tourists, was abolished, a stack of ten single tickets that were previously laminated together at a reduced rate. Anyone who still has paper single tickets in their wallet can still use them until next year. Paper tickets can also be exchanged later.
Abolishing paper tickets serves to protect the environment
The abolition of paper tickets should also serve to protect the environment. At the start of the change, RATP estimated that more than 500 million paper tickets were sold every year – and ended up in the trash or on the street. The strong paper tickets were introduced with the opening of the first Paris metro line 125 years ago. The design of the tickets has changed many times since then.
If you come to Paris as a tourist, the best option in the future is to buy a reloadable “Navigo Easy” card, onto which the multi-day subscriptions intended for visitors to the city can be downloaded from the ticket machine. You can also download the exact number of individual tickets you need during your stay in Paris onto the “Navigo Easy” card. This may be much cheaper than a multi-day ticket. There is also the option to buy and validate tickets using your smartphone. Simply using a credit card as a ticket, as in London, is not possible in Paris. (sda/dpa)