In the last year, I've been through over a dozen cities and used public transport in all of them. It is wild just how confusing and complex buying a ticket can be. While some cities obviously take a user-centred approach to ticketing, others appear to take a Kafkaesque delight in a bureaucratic maze of zones, apps, and intricate restrictions. One of the seminal texts in computer systems design…
oh? I was in paris recently and used only one app (https://www.iledefrance-mobilites.fr/en), and even that seemed optional. I got the paper card from a ticket machine in a subway station and used the app to top-up the card, although could’ve also done that from the machine that sold me the card.
anyone know what two apps they’re talking about? I’m on iOS, is it different on android?
Yes, the author misunderstood something, you definitely don’t need an app. I regularly buy tickets, and I’ve never even installed the bloody app. The two-ticket system is annoying, though, and it’s the kind of mistake a tourist could easily make in good faith. (Taking the tram with a metro ticket, for example.)
… Ah wait, I thought they were talking about the metro or bus+tram tickets, but they seem to be talking about the RER tickets instead ? That’s another issue.
while i was in paris the RER tickets had been folded into the metro tickets but i think that’s more recent. i was there in april
Oh you’re right, I forgot that they changed the system for the RER. You used to be able to access the RER with a “normal” metro ticket as long as you stayed inside Paris, but for the suburbs you had to buy a ”destination” ticket which costed more or less depending on the length of your trip. I wasn’t certain whether that system had completely disappeared.
to be fair, i did stay within central paris. I’d heard the system had been updated as I described and I didn’t see anywhere to buy RER tickets but you’re right to call me out, i did post this without double checking :)
Aren’t they talking about the Transilien trains? Whatever it’s a Paris fail having so many routes on different tickets.
I think a separate app used to replace the paper card on NFC -enabled phones but you still needed the app you used to top up even though in that case you are topping up the phone, not a paper card.
https://www.seat61.com/changing-stations-in-paris.htm#how-to-buy-metro-tickets explains the current situation.
ah, you’re right. on my iphone it would install the digital card to apple wallet, however you can also top up the card (or create one) from the apple wallet app with native integration, so still 1 app on ios. i guess android wallet doesn’t have this yet, that’s too bad
Oh it does and it’s now one app on Android too, as you can read on seat 61. I’ve no idea why Paris made it more complicated before.
when is before? this blog post is from 5 days ago
I don’t remember. Less than a year ago, if the blog post is accurate about its scope. It’s also likely that there is outdated instructions still online and it’s possible to install the old compatibility app unnecessarily.