Hi Ben. Does the fare increase for the Paris Olympics also apply to RER trips just within Zone 5? I, along with 2 others in my family intend to make return trips(between Val d'Europe and Marne-la-Vallée Chessy) for 3 days straight in early August during the Games. We're only doing one return trip per day, however. So a one-way trip would cost €4 per person just to ride RER for a one-station stop if purchasing single RER tickets? Is this correct?
1 answer
Actually, the price increase for Paris RER tickets is worse than I first understood. The price for each RER ticket will be 6€ during the 2024 Olympics, regardless of distance traveled. So, even for a single-station trip from Val d'Europe to Marne la Vallée the RER tickets would cost 6€ each, one-way. At first I thought the price increase was adding a single euro onto each ticket, making the minimum cost from 2.20€ to 3.20€ and the maximum from 5€ to 6€. But in actuality, RER tickets will simply be a flat 6€ from July 20 to Sept 8, regardless of trip distance. Not good.
I did some research and there may be a "partial" alternative for you, using Bus 19 that travels from Val d'Europe to Gare de Meaux, and its first stop is Marne la Vallée-Chessy. Here's the PDF of the route & timetable for Bus 19.
I say "partial" alternative because this bus services the Val d'Europe stop only from 09:06 to 15:58 (3:58pm). Which would be fine in one direction (going to Disney), but returning from Disney in the late/afternoon evening, would not be possible using Bus 19 as it simply stops going to Val d'Europe after 3:58pm M-F (it's final stop is Marne la Vallée after this time and Val d'Europe is one stop beyond, final bus on Saturdays leaving Marne la Vallée is 4:38 and Sundays it doesn't run at all to Val d'Europe). You would need to either share a cab/Uber or take the RER after 3:58pm M-F or 4:38 on Saturdays or anytime on Sunday.
If Bus 19 is a workable partial solution for you, and each of your family has their own mobile phone and they happen to be more recent Apple phones, updated to iOS 17.5, you could purchase Ticket t+ (same as a Paris Metro ticket) inside Apple Wallet now or before July 20 for 2.15€ each, and use them in August (there's no expiry date, use them anytime in the future). Google/Android phones may also be able to do this inside Google Wallet, but I'm not sure (I don't have a recent Android phone). (RER tickets are not available on mobile phones.)
If you're not able to buy/use your mobile phones, then tickets purchased aboard bus 19 would be 4€ each.
Hope this helps somewhat, but it might have just added more confusion. Please post another question if you need some clarification.