[johnwalkr]

I recently travelled to Paris a few times as a tourist. I normally travelled by train and metro. But on the last trip, a bus was much faster according to google maps.

Researched and knew the bus that would take me to my hotel. Checked google and the physical sign at the bustop at Gare de L'est. It confirmed you can buy a ticket on the bus. Tried to board a bus and got yelled at by another customer and the driver for not knowing I have to buy a ticket ahead of time at a machine or use "SMS ticket" which I wasn't eager to use and probably wouldn't even have worked on my foreign phone plan.

OK, I happen to know from previous bad experience I can't buy a ticket anywhere nearby the bus stop but have to go to the basement in the station to buy a ticket which is located at the entrance to the metro. The lineup is 20 people deep and the machine is SLOW to use. Definitely takes 2-3 minutes per person. After 10 minutes of googling about cards for tourists I have learned that you can only get a card if you live in Paris, confirm your address, and even then it takes 2-3 weeks to get one. There is a card you can get as a tourist, but it's only useful for expensive day passes, not for taking 1-2 euro trips. Is there another solution for paying for transit? Maybe, but good luck finding out what it is, I certainly could not in 10 minutes of googling or asking my French friends.

The solution was a 30 euro taxi ride.

Paris the the number 1 tourist destination on the planet, a travel hub city, has a great public transportation system, and from my experience is a great place for travel and probably to live. It's sad that they discontinued a simple metro ticket and require a special card to travel that is not readily available to tourists (or if it is, I certainly couldn't figure out a way to board a bus or predict how to board the metro next year). From personal experience, throughout the entire world, I have never experienced not being able to board public transit by using cash or credit card either on board or from a nearby, working ticket machine. I have experienced simply using cash, using my tap to pay card, or missing one train/bus due to figuring out how to find a local ticket card or transit card. Only in Paris have I literally given up and taken a taxi.

[WastingMyTime89]

> After 10 minutes of googling about cards for tourists I have learned that you can only get a card if you live in Paris

That hasn’t been true for years. Anyone can get a pay-as-you-go card which you can top up from your phone or a machine inside every station. The only issue is that you have to buy them either from a counter in a station or from one of the numerous approved shops.

You can also pay the bus from inside. I don’t know what you are talking about. From the tone of your post, you probably didn’t bother saying hello and just started talking in English so the driver told you to get lost.

[throwaway5959]

Paris is so openly hostile to tourists (strangers were more helpful than staff). I’m happy to visit everywhere else as we do more visits to Europe.

[WastingMyTime89]

Paris is fine for tourists. People just expect to be treated with politeness and decency which is not how Americans generally behave with staff.

Just say hi, please, thank you, ask people if they speak English or show a minimum of contrition when talking directly in English to show you realise it would be nicer to speak the language of the land, everything will be fine.

It’s puzzling to me why people expect things to go well visiting France without studying what’s considered polit and what’s not. It’s the capital of a country. It’s not Disneyland.

[throwaway5959]

My wife and I were plenty polite, like I said many of our interactions with everyday people were fine. It was some of the workers in restaurants and hotels that were rude. There was also the pickpocket at the train station impersonating a station worker (thankfully we ignored them and the attendant in the booth told them to go away).

It’s OK though. It’s your city. We’re happy to visit elsewhere and I’m sure you’re happy we’re not there, silly Americans that we are.

[29083011397778]

While I'm sure you knew to say please and thank you, and at least try to use their language, you also can't really deny some of your countrymen have given you a poor reputation. It's come to the point that your reputation is so bad, the common advice is to impersonate Canadians.

Were the Parisiens wrong to be rude? Probably. Could they have simply learned from other Americans that being rude is the default? I would assume so. I'm not saying it's your fault, just that it can be easier to assume the next Americans will be as loud and obnoxious as the last ones.

[missedthecue]

There is a difference I think between getting a lesser or more reserved level of friendliness and getting outright rudeness and hostility.

[ekianjo]

The service is awful in Paris. You dont need to be offended by that fact.

Only parisians can get used to it.

[WastingMyTime89]

Seriously service is very much fine in Paris. Most people are very nice. It’s always Americans complaining about it. I witness it everyday. Most American tourist expects service to be nice for no reason, is unpleasant, goes to the wrong person and then is surprised people are rude.

Stop acting like you are owed something. It’s all going to get better.

[jen20]

Even provincial French people I know complain about Parisiens being rude and unhelpful. Personally I’ve never had an issue as an English person who learned metropolitan French at school. Montreal though… wow.

[ekianjo]

> Stop acting like you are owed something. It’s all going to get better.

Why do you assume I am American or something? Travel just anywhere on Earth and you will be better served than in Paris.

[shakow]

> The service is awful in Paris.

It really depends where you end up.

The popular and/or well situated places tend to not give a shit, because what will you do? You're just one of a thousand customers waiting to get there, so screw you.

More standard places however, tend to be like any other places I witnessed in Europe, i.e. filled with run-of-the-mill merchants happy to get business.

Which explain the difference of experience between Parisians and tourists: the latter are (rightfully) shocked by prices and service in the shitty tourist trap on rue de Rivoli or Montmartre, which absolutely does not reflect the experience of the former in the little Georgian restaurant or their favorite bistro three streets down their flat.

[AdrianB1]

Travelling to Paris for ~ 15 years as I have some family there, I never, ever used a bus: either RER, regular subway or walking (I walked 10+ km several times). I found the experience of bus tickets for tourists a hit or miss across Europe, either big cities not friendly with tourists (some: especially inaccessible with people not speaking the local language, mostly in Germany) or positively surprised when things were a lot simpler than I thought in unexpected places. For public transportation, this lack of consistency is bad.

[ThePowerOfFuet]

>After 10 minutes of googling about cards for tourists I have learned that you can only get a card if you live in Paris, confirm your address, and even then it takes 2-3 weeks to get one. There is a card you can get as a tourist, but it's only useful for expensive day passes, not for taking 1-2 euro trips.

They failed you, because such a card exists and is called the Navigo Easy, costs €2, and you can load individual trips on it. Unfortunately the machines don't sell the cards yet, so you have to talk to a human.

[jfim]

It's almost as if the RATP doesn't want tourists to use it though. From their website on the pass (https://www.ratp.fr/en/titres-et-tarifs/passe-navigo-easy)

> Do you want to take trips on the metro, bus or tram? Do you want a rechargeable pass? The Navigo Easy pass is made for you!

> Ideal for : Les touristes et les clients voyageant occasionnellement

There's also a table further down the page that's only available in French that explains which fare combinations are allowed (ie. cannot load both a full fare and reduced fare on the same card). Although even if one reads French, it's not clear what the orange cell means, so maybe the RATP just hates all of its customers. :-)

[bagels]

It's in French, is that why you are saying they don't want tourists to use it?

Otherwise, it basically says: Ideal for tourists and occasional travellers.

[bombcar]

I think that's the gist - the table is confusing and complex even for a French speaker.

"Tourist" cards should always be "you can ride basically everything" and "more expensive than if you know what you're doing". I have no idea what a "day pass" on the Metro is, but tourists will gladly pay more for something they don't have to think about and works everywhere.

[secabeen]

I purchased these for my family on my last trip, and it took a little work; I had to go to the office in the train station, then ask, there was confusion with the Navigo vs the Navigo Easy. In the end, it worked, and the $2 cost of the card was covered by the discount on the 10-ride pack.

That said, the just-use-your-credit card system in London is way better.