double prices, duplicate tickets… The puzzle of tickets sold on buses in Paris

Île-de-France bus users without a Navigo Liberté + pass will likely need to purchase two tickets at €2.50 each to make a single journey.

We already knew the price of the subway ticket … we now know the price of the bus. In Île-de-France from July 20 to September 8, for people without a Navigo Liberté + pass or Easy card, the price of a ticket bought on a bus will double, and will go from 2.50 euros to 5 euros.

A significantly prohibitive price for Ile-de-France users of the bus network, as described by Colombe, encountered at a bus stop near Montparnasse station in Paris.

“Already here today’s price is huge for short journeys. But here I’m clearly not going to take the bus for that price. We’re going to walk, we’re going to take the bikes, we want to find other solutions, but we want to, we’re not going to give in” , describes this passenger.

“It’s crazy, as Parisians I think we’re already involved enough in the organization of these games and we don’t have to put up with this price increase again,” agrees Olivia.

FNAUT (National Federation of Transport User Associations) in Île-de-France is alarmed by this increase in tickets and its consequences for users, especially from a financial point of view. As for the CGT-RATP, the organization assures that it has not been consulted and specifies that it received the news via an announcement from the Île-de-France Mobilités.

“For us, increasing ticket prices does not correspond at all to our values ​​of public services. And moreover, for a global event like this, it can be perceived as a form of extortion, whether against tourists or even users”, laments the. Sami Kennouzi, CGT-RATP secretary.

Two tickets and worries

For management reasons, RATP does not issue a special ticket at this price for the Games. Several hypotheses are currently being discussed, and the one holding the thread is surprising. Users must purchase two tickets for 2.50 euros to make a single journey. The two keys must be validated at the same time, which can lead to confusion.

“It is still an oddity. It is clear that the user who is going to pay five euros for his bus trip is not necessarily going to be very happy. And besides, he has to understand why we give him, why he has to validate two tickets while traveling alone” , says Marc Pélissier, president of FNAUT in Île-de-France, at BFM Paris Île-de-France.

Unions and user associations are calling for the implementation of a QR code to, as a minimum, correctly inform people who want to use Ile-de-France buses and try to protect drivers.

RATP “recommends buying your ticket before July 20”

The situation could potentially be divisive from the point of view of the bus drivers, who fear that riders and tourists will feel cheated and become angry with them.

In the meantime, user associations strongly encourage tourists and regular users of the Ile-de-France bus network to buy their tickets in advance to avoid paying full price for the ticket.

Advice shared by RATP itself, which confirms with BFM Paris Île-de-France that “for occasional travelers, Île-de-France Mobilités recommends buying their transport ticket before July 20, either on an Easy card, or on Liberté+, so so as not to be affected by these increases”.

“Note that sales on board buses represent an additional solution for our travelers who want to take transport and make up less than 2% of sales,” the authority concludes.