Fares for the metro, RER, bus, tram and suburban trains (Transiliens) were completely overhauled on 1is January 2025 in Île-de-France. Until this date, there were a multitude of possible combinations, with prices changing depending on the location of the departure and arrival stations (single price in Paris and the inner suburbs, more expensive to go to the greater suburbs, etc. .). “Two new tickets therefore replace the 50,000 fare combinations: the Metro-Train-RER ticket (+ T11/T12/T13 tramway) at €2.50 and the Bus-Tram ticket at €2”sums up Île-de-France Mobilités. In fact, the old and new tariff systems coexist, in part, in 2025, a year of transition. Thus, old t+ tickets (usable only in Paris and the inner suburbs) and “origin-destination” tickets (for transport to or from the suburbs) can still be used on the Ile-de-France network.
The effects of this fare reform have been known for a long time: non-subscribers who occasionally use public transport in Paris and the inner suburbs see the cost of their journeys increase – by 35 cents! ‒, when those making Paris-suburb or suburb-suburb journeys come out ahead. But what had not necessarily been anticipated with this reform intended to make life easier for occasional travelers in Île-de-France is that, in certain cases, its concrete application brings, for the moment, a dose of additional complexity.
€2 extra for the Navigo Easy card
Take the case of this reader of What to Chooseliving in the suburbs, who tried to go to Paris by RER. She first tried to buy her ticket on the RATP application, which allows her to acquire, keep and use her transport tickets. Patatras, impossible to buy the new Metro-Train-RER ticket, which does not appear on its application. For what ? Because she still had titles from the old generation in stock in her application. “If a user already has t+ tickets on their Navigo Easy pass or their phone, they must first validate all the t+ tickets already present before loading Metro-Train-RER or Bus-Tram tickets”, explains a spokesperson for Île-de-France Mobilités, who adds that the “technical teams continue to work as quickly as possible to find a solution to the problem of cohabitation of several titles”. The organizers of public transport in the Ile-de-France region say “fully aware of this inconvenience for users”.
In short, as long as you have not used all your t+ tickets valid only in Paris and the inner suburbs, you cannot buy tickets to go to Paris or the suburbs. Crazy! “Even though I have the application on my smartphone, I still had to queue at a terminal to buy a ticket,” deplores our reader. Except that she then discovered that it was not possible to buy these new transport tickets in the form of a cardboard ticket. “These two new prices mark the end of the cardboard ticket, which was recorded and which is becoming more concrete”we underline at Île-de-France Mobilités, which defends a choice which “is part of the dematerialization strategy initiated since 2016”. Concretely, at the terminals, when you wish to purchase a new generation transport ticket, it is therefore necessary to simultaneously purchase a reusable Navigo Easy card, charged at €2. As a result, the rail transport ticket officially on sale for €2.50 is actually billed at €4.50!
-No more cardboard tickets?
So the cardboard tickets are over. Well, in theory. Because if you look hard enough, ticket machines always deliver some. To obtain one, simply go to the oldest automatic terminals, those without a touch screen. On these machines, transport tickets are directly offered in the form of physical tickets. You can therefore avoid purchasing a Navigo Easy and buy t+ tickets and “origin-destination” RER tickets the old way, but… at the new prices (€2.50).
If you are dealing with a slightly more recent terminal, equipped with a touch screen, you will have to get a little trickier by going through the list of available prices and clicking on the “other” section to access the entire list. old pricing delivered in cardboard tickets. A tip given to us by RATP agents. “Distribution in cardboard format will still be effective temporarily in 2025 to support the transition, particularly in stations that do not yet offer sufficient distribution channels for contactless media, confirms a spokesperson for Île-de-France Mobilités. We are working with operators to increase this equipment as quickly as possible. »
“For occasional users, it is also possible to subscribe to Liberté+. This is the post-payment solution now extended to the entire Île-de-France region which has the advantage of allowing users to no longer queue at the machines and benefit from even cheaper rates (€1.99 for a Metro-Train-RER ticket or €1.60 for a Bus-Tram ticket) and free connections »we also indicate to Île-de-France Mobilités. Certainly, but this Navigo Liberté+ pass is a real contract which requires registering in an agency or online, sending an identity photo, transmitting your RIB, a supporting document to benefit from a reduced rate… Not really the ideal solution for occasional travelers.
