Can we still use paper carnet tickets? Or must we buy a 3rd Navigo easy for 3rd person? Is it possible to use phone to pay for ticket, as in London? Merci bien
1 answer
Paper carnet/booklets of Paris Ticket t+ are disappearing from the last Metro/RER station ticket windows this year (2023) so it's likely we can't buy paper carnet tickets any longer.
It "may" be possible to store a carnet of Ticket t+ on a phone & use/validate Paris Metro/Bus/Tram tickets directly from the phone, depending on the phone.
As of June 2023, only some Android phones support Paris transit tickets & passes on mobile phones. iPhones (in 2023) do not support any Paris Metro ticket/passes, at all, and can only recharge/reload physical Navigo cards using its built-in NFC chip.
From what I've read from Ile-de-France Mobilites, Android phones with version 8 & above may support on-phone Paris tickets/passes. Here's a list of notable phones that do not work / cannot hold Paris public transit fares/passes:
- Google Pixel Slate,
- Nocturne,
- Pixel,
- Pixel 2, Pixel 2XL,
- Pixel 3, Pixel 3XL, Pixel 3a, Pixel 3a xl,
- Pixel 4,
- Pixel C,
- Pixel Slate,
- Nexus 5X,
- Nexus 6P
- Huawei phones
- Honor phones
I've just tried using a Pixel 3a phone to buy/store a Paris Metro ticket t+ using the Ile-de-France Mobilites app and it did not work. In the app, from the Purchase tab/page, tapping on the "On my phone" card/section the app automatically began running a diagnostic and eventually returned with "Device incompatible" message and didn't allow any further progress.
If you're using a Samsung phone, very likely it supports on-phone Paris Metro/Bus/etc ticket t+ or Navigo pass purchase & validation. So if that's your device, I'd say install the app and try to purchase a single ticket or carnet of ticket t+. (There's no expiry date on those tickets and tickets/passes can be transferred between phones upon first installation/run of the IDF Mobilites app.)
Good luck! And please do share your experience with the IDF Mobilites app if you try it.