Navigo pass

The Navigo pass or Passe Navigo is a means of payment for public transportation introduced in the Île-de-France region (whose capital is the city of Paris) in 2001. It is implemented as a contactless smart card using the Calypso standard, and enables authenticated access at turnstiles by passing the card near an electronic reader.

The pass is available either attached to an account for those who live or work in the Île-de-France region (known simply as Passe Navigo), or can be issued on the spot to anybody at a station (Passe Navigo Découverte). While the account based passes are free, a Découverte pass costs €5 at ticket booths. The passes can be credited at ticket booths and machines for weekly or monthly use; Passe Navigo users can also buy a yearly pass, payable in one or eleven monthly payments. Unlike comparable cards issued in other major cities, there is no facility to add a certain amount of credit to the card for use on irregular journeys over a period of time. Pass holders wishing to travel outside the zones of validity may purchase an extension ticket which is loaded onto the card for immediate use; this is unnecessary on weekends and public holidays for those with a monthly or annual pass, which are valid throughout all zones irrespective of zones actually purchased.

Navigo passes can be used on the vehicles of the RATP, the SNCF (within the Transilien network), Optile, and companies under the aegis of the Syndicat des transports d'Île-de-France (STIF), as well as with the Vélib' bicycle rental system and the Autolib electric car sharing service Autolib.

Cards either bear a photograph of the holder or must be accompanied by a photo ID card.

When the system was introduced in 2001, it was only available to subscribers of the Carte Intégrale annual pass. In 2003, it was increased to users of the Carte Imagine'R student pass. From 2005, the Navigo pass was available for travel within zones one and two of the Paris transportation region for Carte orange weekly and monthly passes. Since mid-May 2006, it has been possible to use the Navigo pass in the entirety of the Île-de-France region in place of the paper tickets of the conventional Carte orange, which was completely discontinued in February 2009. Single-trip and 10-trip (discounted) paper tickets are still available from station agents and ticket vending machines and are accepted in all stations and buses, though busier Métro and RER stations will usually have several turnstiles set aside for Navigo card holders exclusively. Bus drivers also sell single-trip tickets.

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Wikipedia