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Educational System Higher Education System Large Variety of Superior Education Institutions Where to Study in Île-de-France? How to Apply?

Higher Education System

Large Variety of Superior Education Institutions

Where to Study in Île-de-France?

How to Apply?

Research System Public Research Institutes Research Laboratories Master Internships or PhD Candidatures

Public Research Institutes

Research Laboratories

Master Internships or PhD Candidatures

Practical Information Bank Account Financial Support Public Transport Where to Learn French?

Bank Account

Financial Support

Public Transport

Where to Learn French?

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English

Transport system in Paris is huge. It can even be confusing if you are not used to crowded places, the lines are well-developed and allow you to go everywhere in a relatively short time. We should warn you, however, that some stations are really big. If you have to change lines, don’t worry if you get lost in the station, this happens to the locals too. It is also normal to have to walk inside a station for about 5 minutes to reach another line.

The system is managed by Île-de-France mobilités and is well integrated.

We highly advice you to subscribe a student Pass Navigo. It is the best way to move in a unlimited way all around the city . Further information: Forfait imagine R Etudiant .

Metro

Metro is the favorite mode of transport for Parisians. Composed of 16 lines (14 lines + 2 secondary lines), the metro starts at 5 AM every day and closes at 1:15 AM from Sunday to Thursday and at 2:15 AM on Friday and Saturday night. It operates every 2 minutes during rush hour and every 5 minutes at other times.

RER

RER is something in between the Metro and an Urban Train. It covers suburban areas around 30 km of Paris from East to West, North to South and passes through the main stations in Paris. Composed of 5 lines (A,B,C,D,E) it operates from 5 AM and closes around midnight. The trains run approximately every 6 minutes.

Bus

There are lots of buses in Paris. It is impossible to know all the lines. The best way to find out about bus routes is by asking the cashier at the Metro ticket office near your accommodation or university to know exactly which bus lines you could take and where they go. Buses are one of the best ways to discover the city but taking one might take some time ! At rush hour, travel time can be greatly increased due to jams.

Noctilien (Night Bus)

When the Metro, RER, suburban railway and normal buses cease operation, the Noctilien takes over. Noctilien is a night bus service and you can recognize it because the number of the line begins with ‘N’, e.g. ‘N 141’.

To get to know the timetable and where the buses go, we recommend that you check the Noctilien website first or tu use an app. Pay attention where to leave your bus because most of the Noctilien lines travel far into the suburbs.

Tramway

Tramway transportation has just been reintroduced and 8 lines are available in Paris and its suburbs (T1-T2-T3-T4-T5-T6-T7-T8).

Vélib’ (City Bike)

A good way to discover the city is by renting a city bike. In order to rent a bike, register directly on the Vélib’ ATM (English, French, Spanish, German and Italian spoken). You can pay using a Mastercard and Visa International cards. The fee for renting a bike for a day is 1.80€. After registration, you can use the bike free of charge for up to 30 minutes. Once this free time is over, you will pay 1€ for 1 hour of use, 2€ for 1:30 hours, 4€ for 2 hours and so on. When you return the bike, make sure to keep it back properly in order not to loose your deposit. Annual subscription are also available.

The official Vélib’ website will give you all the details.

Transilien (Sururban railway)

Transilien is our urban rail service that connects Paris to the suburbs much like RER does. The only difference between RER and Transilien is that Transilien suburban railway goes much further into the suburbs whereas RER operates only in the nearer suburbs. Transilien is the best way to discover the Paris region. You have several destinations – from which to choose. You can start your trip from the train station in Paris (Paris Est, Paris Nord, Paris gare de Lyon, Paris Montparnasse, Paris Saint Lazare).

For more information, check the transport map or the Transilien official website .

Transport fares

You can buy single tickets at the ATM you will find in almost every station. The Ticket t+ costs 1.90€ individually, or around 18€ in pack of ten. and is valid on RER and train networks in Paris, metro, tram and bus. The Ticket t+ allows metro-to-metro, rail-to-rail and metro-to-rail connections in Paris for 2 hours from the time of validation of entry to the network. It is not valid on trains or RER outside Paris (for the region Île-de-France, there are other kind of tickets for which the cost change with the traveled distance) A single t+ Ticket is most of the times valid for the entire route. It allows connections between bus and tramway for 1h30 between the first and last validation.

Tickets and rates can be found here .

Navigo Pass

The most useful and easy to use system is the one called “Navigo Pass” : optimal for a frequent use, you can use this pass in several way of transport (metro, bus, rer, urban train and tramway). It is especially handy for students due to the annual subscriptions when you can justify of your institution (with a student card for instance). This will divide the cost by two and it will even give you some discounts at cinemas and restaurants.

Further information in the Navigo Website .

Information here are gathered from the website Eurasmus of Paris . You can also find a lot of good places and advice visiting it.

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