JO2024: The €4 Metro Ticket “So That No One Buys It!”

Valérie Pécresse, President of the Île-de-France Regional Council, has justified the surge in metro ticket prices during the 2024 Olympics.

The situation is disheartening and makes one forget that Paris is the world’s top tourist destination. However, the management of tourist flow, which is already very poor under normal circumstances, greatly worries elected officials. So, is the only solution found to discourage visitors from using public transport? That seems to be the interpretation of the surge in metro ticket prices during the 2024 Olympic Games: “It is set at 4 euros precisely so that no one buys it”. Until July 20, 2024, this ticket costs 2.10 euros individually and 1.73 euros with the Navigo Liberté + pass.

This statement was made by Valérie Pécresse, President of the Île-de-France Regional Council, before clarifying that this “discouraging rate” aims to reduce congestion at ticket counters. It’s a case of the snake biting its tail: the problem is the purchase of tickets, not the ticket price.

The logic is absurd and reflects the nightmare experienced, every day for decades, by tourists and also residents when they need to recharge their Navigo pass.

Everything will be fine…

The promise of a disastrous Olympic Games – even tinged with a terrorist threat – perhaps has another “beneficial” effect for local officials: to dissuade locals from staying in Île-de-France? Who knows.

To redeem herself, Valérie Pécresse continued her logic, which only she seems to understand: “The resident who chooses to pay a 4 € ticket is making a bad choice; they are opting to pay more”. The president alludes here to the fact that residents, if they want to travel for the initial fare of 1.73 euros, must subscribe on the Navigo Liberté + site or take out monthly or annual subscriptions whose prices do not vary.

Finally, to reduce congestion on the metros and RER, Madame Valérie Pécresse had another brilliant idea: “We rely on collective intelligence, like stopping one station early, for example. One should not be afraid to walk a bit; it’s good for health and we will be in August”. It’s true that a Japanese tourist crossing Seine Saint-Denis on foot in summer will remember that for life.

As for the tourists, they will be invited to purchase Daily Passes priced between 10 and 16 €… which will need to be collected at ticket counters…

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