Navigo, Carte Orange & Velib' in Paris

According to posters and audio messages in the metro : the carte
orange is definitively replaced by Navigo (for locals) or Navigo
decouverte (tourists) January the 20 2009.

Be carefull if you don't fasten correctly your Velib' on the bike
stand (you must wait 6 seconds for the bip bip and green light) and
notice it only several hours later... (you can't take another bike
then and the terminal says that the 1st is still hired) they don't
suppress as easily as they did (twice for me !) during the first year
of implementation of Velib', the amount that you'll have to pay for
the time passed. It can reach more than 40 € for a period of 24 hours
since the cost of hiring is exponential to avoid too long periods of
use and allow a better turn over of the bikes.
Worse. If you do that just before leaving Paris, and if the amount
reaches 150 €, because nobobody has touched the bike and fastened it
meanwhile, they will first consider that the bike has been stolen and
take the 150 € pre-acepted in this case when you bought the Navigo
ticket, until they find again the bike, or not... From abroad it will
be very dfifficult to explain that you simply didn't fasten the bike.

SO..... BE PATIENT AND JUST ALWAYS WAIT.... 6 SECONDS !!

http://www.en.velib.paris.fr/comment_ca_marche

http://www.ratp.info/informer/passe_navigo_orange.php

didier Meurgues

I have also explained several times to angry foreigners that if they
can't take another bike that could be also because they didn't notice
that they used their former bike for more than 30 mn. Since a ride of
30 mn, after the first free 30 mn, cost 1 €, their 1 day (or more)
account can then have be emptied and become negative. They just have
to add with the station terminal and a chipcard, the 1 or few €s
necessary to make their acount positive again in order to take another
bike. Velib' tickets are bought only from terminals (next to the
bikes) with a chipcard. If you've got a Navigo card you can add Velib'
on it from the terminal, then just slide Navigo over the stand to take
the bike.

On 15 jan, 19:23, didier Meurgues wrote:

If you've got a Navigo card you can addVelib'
on it from the terminal, then just slide Navigo over the stand to take
the bike.

If you have read the VELIB' website I gave above, it's said that
Velib' can be added to an annual (1 year) Navigo card, but I don't
know for a weekly or monthly Navigo decouverte card.
I've written again to the RATP to ask them to add the Navigo
decouverte in the foreign languages pages of their website. I'll tell
if they reply...

For the carte orange suppression, the RATP website (red frame on
middle right of page) precise that it's January 20 2009 for the
monthtly carte orange but January 30 2009 for the weekly.
So the end is Februray 1.

didier Meurgues

In article
,
didier Meurgues wrote:

On 15 jan, 19:23, didier Meurgues wrote:

If you've got a Navigo card you can addVelib'
on it from the terminal, then just slide Navigo over the stand to take
the bike.

If you have read the VELIB' website I gave above, it's said that
Velib' can be added to an annual (1 year) Navigo card, but I don't
know for a weekly or monthly Navigo decouverte card.
I've written again to the RATP to ask them to add the Navigo
decouverte in the foreign languages pages of their website. I'll tell
if they reply...


I thought Velib was free for the first hour or something like that?

Or maybe I'm thinking of another city.

On Sat, 17 Jan 2009 11:30:29 -0800, poldy wroteÂ*:


I thought Velib was free for the first hour or something like that?

Or maybe I'm thinking of another city.

It is free for the first half hour. But only registred users can use the
system. To register, you have to make a 150 EUR deposit that will not be
refunded if your bicycle is lost.

On 25 jan, 17:40, JuanElorza wrote:
On Sat, 17 Jan 2009 11:30:29 -0800, poldy wrote*:

I thought Velib was free for the first hour or something like that?

Or maybe I'm thinking of another city.

It is free for the first half hour. But only registred users can use the
system. To register, you have to make a 150 EUR deposit that will not be
refunded if your bicycle is lost.

You've got the prices there : http://www.en.velib.paris.fr/index.p...ifs/les_tarifs
http://www.en.velib.paris.fr/abonnem...mieres_minutes

As I said, the first 30 mn are free. Then it's 1 € for the next 30 mn,
then 2 € for the next 30 mn, then after 1h30 mn it's 4 € by 30 mn
until the end of the 24th hour. Then the pre-accepted 150 € are taken
since after 1 day the velib' is considered as stolen. See 3rd question
of : http://www.en.velib.paris.fr/comment...offset)/0#faq2
You don't pay immediatly 150 € when you buy the ticket. The deposit is
"pre-accepted" but then virtual. They take it only if the bike is
considered as stolen after 24 hours.

They say below that you can add velib' on any kind of Navigo pass, so
it should include a weekly Navigo decouverte for tourists :
http://www.en.velib.paris.fr/comment...pe/(offset)/10
L'écran indique qu'il n'y a plus de vélos en station alors que vous en
voyez en toute fin de station
Attention, il faut distinguer les stations principales des stations
dites allégées. Ces dernières sont généralement placées à proximité
d'une station principale, dans sa continuité. Elles sont composées
uniquement de points d'attache sur lesquels il est possible de passer
sa carte d'abonné 1 an ou son passe Navigo afin de retirer un vélo.
Seuls les usagers munis de leur carte Vélib' 1 an ou de leur passe
Navigo activé (QUEL QUE SOIT LEUR ABONNEMENT) peuvent louer un vélo
sur ces points d'attache, mais en revanche, chacun peut y raccrocher
un vélo.

Normally, you can now ask a Navigo decouverte pass in every metro
station. You must add a photo yourself.
In the RATP agencies they digitalise the photo on the pass :
http://www.ratp.info/informer/agences_paris.php

IMO, some difficulties to find or park a bike at certain hours of the
day, the main problems are :

- You notice that you didn't fasten correctly your bike after 11 PM
(again, always wait 6 seconds for the green light !). You can't ask
them to cancel the hiring until the opening hour of the telephone
service in the next morning and will consequently have to pay around
40 €... (opening hours indicated on the terminal) except if there's an
e-mail procedure on internet, which I don't know. Hope you're not
leaving Paris the next morning :+)

- Sometimes there's no more ticket in the terminal. So the ticket that
you just bought doesn't get out... You must cancel it with the phone
integrated in the terminal or use your own phone (until 11 PM at 01 30
79 79 30, I think).

- You have checked on a terminal (with the keys # 4 then 5) that a
stand is free in a nearby station in order to park your bike, but when
you arrive there is a piece of red plastic in the stand put by a
technician because it is out of order. So you can't fasten your bike,
YOU HAVE MADE A DETOUR FOR NOTHING and must look for another
station... I've written to them on the internet forum to ask for the
piece of plastic to have the same effect on the electronic system than
a parked bike instead of indicating FALSELY that the stand is free...
An idiot (about half the engineers are :+)) replied that he doesn't
care !

didier Meurgues