M

etro & Bus

 

Les Transports en Common











French flag




Most of our lives we have not been users of public transport. In fact, we are very much against the subsidies that it gets. But the shoe was on the other foot when we arrived in Paris. We became major users and were quite happy to be subsidized by tax-paying French residents. (Actually, through the very high TVA or value-added tax we paid some of the subsidy).

Our first days, or even week we were frequent users of the Metro. It is famous and we knew how to use it because of our previous sojourns in Paris. But after we learned how to catch it and where it went we began to love — is that too strong? — Bus 24. There is no doubt that the underground Metro trains are faster but we liked (and still like) being above ground where you can see what is going on.

The Bus 24 stop was closer than the nearest Metro station, it went straight into the heart of Paris, and thus got us to so many places that we wanted to be.

After a week we also bought a monthly pass. That is a great deal and allowed us to jump on and off the bus, take part of a trip by Metro and part by bus.




February 26, 2003