As Gainsbourg sang it so well at the Porte des Lilas stop, our dear ticket inspectors would turn over in their graves upon hearing this news. RATP reached another stage in its process of modernization of its transports tickets, including the cardboard t+ ticket book.
A transition to the all-digital
With the goal of fully digitizing ticket purchases by 2025, RATP is initiating the first stages of dematerialization. The gradual withdrawal of books of 10 t+ tickets from ticket counters and ticket machines will start October 14, 2021. From now on, the precious white and blue cardboard rectangle will only be available individually at tickets counters, at a price of €2.
But no panic! Cardboard tickets will not fully disappear right away, since they will still be present for some time for the lines connected to the peripheral suburbs. The digitalization of metro tickets will take place in 3 distinct steps, starting on October 14th. Then, by January 2022, the physical sale will end in approximately 280 stations, to cover all Parisian metro stations in March 2022.
Why such a change at RATP ?
But then why do you want to abolish all ticket sales in booklets, you may ask. Well, the RATP presents us the stakes of this process: to offer more advantageous and eco-responsible alternatives.
👉 Waste reduction: With more than 28 million tickets sold each year in Paris, a part of it tends to be thrown away in the street. FYI, a metro ticket needs around a year to decompose, which is as much as a cigarette butt needs to do so.
👉 Less unused tickets = more savings. Each year, more than 5 million tickets are demagnetized and 1 out of 10 tickets is not used because lost. So dematerialization seems to be the key to using them all without wasting.
👉 Faster and more convenient: Digitalized tickets tend to be the promise of a faster passage through the gates, also limiting any contact and consequently allowing better respect of the barrier gestures.
What kind of alternatives ?
A solution for all kinds of users. Thus, RATP will be proposing different options to travelers to continue to use the metro without any hindrance. If you don’t have a monthly pass, you can subscribe to Navigo Liberté +, validating each trip, which will be counted and billed the following month, so that you don’t pay more than you use. There will also be the Navigo Easy pass, a kind of virtual ticket book sold at a lower price and rechargeable at will. For tourists, there is the Navigo Découverte pass, valid for one week and rechargeable via mobile application. Finally, for bus enthusiasts, all you have to do is send a text message to 93000 to validate your journey.
