Paris is about to lose another of its little traditions: the small paper Metro ticket, doomed after 118 years of service. Starting next year, they will be replaced by two contactless passes, called Navigo Liberté and Navigo Easy.
As can be seen in the illustration above, the tickets have changed shape and wording over the years, and gained a magnetic stripe—but for many, even in the age of Navigo weekly and monthly passes, they are both tickets to ride and one of the cheapest souvenirs you can bring home from Paris.
Metro authorities believe eliminating the tickets will speed up passage into the system, and eliminate a lot of paper waste; 550 million tickets are printed each year. The replacement passes will also do something the tickets can’t: allow passengers to transfer from Metro to a bus or tram to complete a journey.
The new cards will not replace the current weekly or monthly passes that can be loaded on a Navigo card; they are designed for less-frequent riders, the ones who are still buying tickets. Navigo Liberté will price rides at the same discount you can now get for buying a ‘carnet’ of ten tickets: €1.49 instead of €1.90. Users will be required to link it to a bank account; the card will ‘top up’ automatically.
The other card, Navigo Easy, will come without the discount, and does not require a bank link; it’s designed for people who occasionally ride the system and don’t want to pay cash fares. The new cards will appear in April 2019; the tickets will still be accepted through 2021. If you have a few in your wallet, now you have an excuse to return to France before they expire.
