Monday, April 4, 2011

What Makes Paris Metro System Special

By Pierre Fontaine


Being the capital city of one of Europe's biggest countries you'd expect Paris to own an excellent public transport system, and by most accounts it does. The cornerstone of the Paris transport system is formed by the metro system.

The routes on the Paris metro system can be seen in the shape of coloured lines on the Paris metro map that gives an appearance of a piece of modern art with its myriad of floored patches.

Paris metro system is among the oldest of the metro systems in the world. The 100-plus year old metro system of Paris operates on 15 various lines which are named after their destinations and this speaks volumes about its experience.

About 368 metro stations are covered by about 200 kilometres of track in Paris. You can reach these metro stations which are situated close to any given point in Paris, normally within 500 meters. Choice is of course yours.

Metro may not be used that much if you are staying in the centre of Paris. Hence a few factors decide the use of metro system and the purchase of tickets by the tourists who go to Paris on vacation.

This is because most of the well-known sights including museums and monuments are all located within walking distance of each other. If this is the case you'll probably only want to purchase a single metro ticket for a particular journey that takes you further a field.

Buying a metro ticket in Paris is easy. There are ticket counters with attendants to help at almost all metro stations in Paris. What most tourists do who are only in Paris for a week or so and know they'll be using the metro at least a few times is possess a carnet. This includes 10 metro tickets at a discounted rate which permit you to ride the Paris metro 10 times.

Alternatively, you can buy an orange Paris metro ticket. This ticket allows you unlimited journey on the metro for a week. Prices of both these tickets depends on how many zones you would like to travel through, so it's a good idea to figure out where you want to go during the week and only buy a ticket for those zones so as to save money.

Paris Vistes are particular tickets intended for the travellers from the US. This allows them to pay unlimited number of visits on the RATP network. Paris Vistes can be reserved through the internet before you leave for France.




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