Paris' Metro (2010-12-01)
Trains are very easy to use and follow in Paris. If you know the line number and the last station on that line, then you'll have no problem catching the right one. But I still like the Tube better for you don't even need to know the name of the end station, you just need to know the direction of your travel. They always say "Westbound" or "Eastbound" etc on the sign.
A pack of ten tickets is 12 Euros, an individual one 1.7 Euros.
There are other kinds of discount tickets but we didn't use them.
Efficient as the Metro may be, I think it's a rather broken
system. Its problem is that if you can get past the ticket
machine without a ticket, you basically can get a free ride since
there's no need to insert the ticket again on exit.
On Sundays in quiet exits (some station's exit comprises of just one
ticket machine and one exit door in a very quiet corner), there'll be
people waiting outside the exit door for any passengers to come out
through that door so they can get on to the platform through it, ticket
free.
We've "let" a man and an old woman in two seperate stations sneak
onto the plateform through the exit door we came out of. We've
also seen a teenage girl duck under the ticket machine's flap doors and
sneak in that way, also in a quiet entrance/exit on Sunday.
Any system that allows people to cheat so easily is royally flawed.
Oh, and also, pickpockets are said to be rampant on trains (in some stations, you actually hear announcement to watch for pickpockets). Usually a group of 2 or 3 will come near you, distract you with a question or something and an accomplice will pick your bag. So watch your things like a hawk.
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