The Navigo card (french: links=yes, Carte Navigo), formerly called the Navigo pass, is a means of payment for public transportation introduced on 1 October 2001 in the City of Paris and

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (, ; literally "Isle of France") is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France. Centred on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the country and often called the ''Région parisienne'' (; en, Pa ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

. It is implemented as a

contactless smart card A contactless smart card is a contactless credential whose dimensions are credit-card size. Its embedded integrated circuits can store (and sometimes process) data and communicate with a terminal via NFC. Commonplace uses include transit ticket ...

using the Calypso standard, initially with

Radio-frequency identification Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically Automatic identification system, identify and Tracking system, track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver ...

(RFID), then

Near-field communication Near-field communication (NFC) is a set of communication protocols that enables communication between two electronic devices over a distance of 4 cm (1 in) or less. NFC offers a low-speed connection through a simple setup that can be u ...

(NFC) since 9 December 2013, and enables authenticated access at turnstiles by scanning the card at an electronic reader. Since July 2018, the payment, loading of season or single tickets and their validation at turnstiles is directly possible with a

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whi ...

System

Cards are available either attached to an account for those who live or work in the Île-de-France region (known simply as ''Carte Navigo''), or can be issued on the spot to anyone at a station (''Carte Navigo Découverte''). The Navigo card bears the name and a photograph of the holder. While the account-based cards are free, a ''Découverte'' card, mainly dedicated to tourists, costs

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

5 at ticket booths. Cards can be credited and season tickets reloaded at ticket booths and machines. Since 2009 on internet for daily, weekly or monthly use; ''Carte Navigo'' users can also buy a yearly pass, payable in one or eleven monthly payments. Pass holders wishing to travel outside the chosen 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. Single-trip and 10-trip (discounted) tickets, daily tickets and Roissybus and Orlybus tickets can be loaded together onto the ''Carte Navigo Easy'' and are accepted in all stations and buses or the two airport buses. Busier Métro and RER stations will usually have several turnstiles set aside for Navigo card holders exclusively. Their equivalent paper tickets were available from station agents and ticket vending machines until 2021. Bus drivers also sell single-trip tickets. The 1 to 5 days Paris Visite paper tickets which offer discounts for tourist attractions cannot yet be loaded on this card. Unlike comparable cards issued in other major cities (Amsterdam, Lisbon), there is no facility to add a certain amount of credit in euros on the card, reduced at each trip, for use on irregular journeys over a period of time, but only single-trip or season tickets. The ''Carte Navigo Liberté+'' service allows connections between all means of transport (except the RER outside Paris) for the same single-trip ticket during the 1 hour 30 minute trip, with a daily limit of

7,5 (slightly lower than the cost of the Day pass); subscribers are billed monthly on all trips made. The service is available to residents of Île-de-France region. Single-trip and 10-trip (discounted) tickets, daily tickets, Roissybus and Orlybus airports tickets and season tickets of weekly or monthly Navigo cards can also be loaded with the application Vianavigo (not yet accepted by Apple) on a Samsung Galaxy

or any Android 6.0 (or up) NFC smartphone using the operators

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

or Sosh. The mobile phone itself is then used like a contactless card to validate on the turnstile readers. Navigo cards can be used on the vehicles of the RATP, the

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffic ...

(within the

Transilien Transilien () is the brand name given to the commuter rail network serving Île-de-France, the region surrounding and including the city of Paris. The network consists of eight lines: H, J, K, L, N, U, P and R, each operated by SNCF, th ...

network),

Optile Optile (Organisation Professionnelle des Transports d'Île-de-France, or Professional Transport Organisation of Île-de-France) is a public transport organisation, created in October 2000 from a merger between several private bus companies serving ...

bus companies, and other companies under the aegis of

Île-de-France Mobilités Île-de-France Mobilités (ÎDF Mobilités), formerly ''STIF'', is the brand name of the ''Syndicat des transports d'Île-de-France'', the organisation authority that controls and coordinates the different transport companies operating in the ...

(IDFM). The cards are also accepted on the

Vélib' is a large-scale public bicycle sharing system in Paris, France. Launched on 15 July 2007, the system encompassed around 14,500 bicycles and 1,400 bicycle stations, located across Paris and in some surrounding municipalities, with an average d ...

bicycle rental system. From 2011, the card could also be used with the

Autolib Autolib' was an electric car sharing service which was inaugurated in Paris, France, in December 2011. It closed on 31 July 2018. It was operated by the Bolloré industry and complemented the city's bike sharing system, Velib', which was set ...

electric car-sharing service, until they ceased operations in 2018 and were replaced by Mobilib'.

History

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 The Carte Imagine'R is a travel pass for students and young people between the ages of 12 and 25 years to travel in the Paris Île-de-France region. Valid for one year, it allows travel on public transport such as the Métro, buses A bus (c ...

student pass. From end 2004, the Navigo card was available for travel within zones one and two of the Paris transportation region for

Carte orange The carte orange (Orange Card) was a pass for the public transportation system in Paris and the surrounding Île-de-France region. A holder of the pass was entitled to unlimited use of the public transit system within a given period of time, w ...

weekly and monthly passes, then in all bus and tramways from January 2005 to January 2006. Since 20 May 2006, it has been possible to use the card in all means of transport and in the entirety of the Île-de-France region in place of the magnetic paper tickets of the conventional Carte orange, which was completely discontinued in February 2009. In July 2007, the Navigo card became compatible with

, the

bicycle-sharing system A bicycle-sharing system, bike share program, public bicycle scheme, or public bike share (PBS) scheme, is a shared transport service where bicycles are available for shared use by individuals at low cost. The programmes themselves include bo ...

of the City of Paris. On 1 September 2007, the ''Carte Navigo Découverte'' replaced the former equivalent version of the ''Carte Orange'' issued on the spot to anyone at a station without registration and in particular to the tourists not residing in the Île-de-France region. On 9 December 2013, the Navigo card was redesigned by Philippe Starck and used NFC technology instead of RFID. Since 1 January 2018, the daily ticket formerly called '' Mobilis'' can be loaded on the Navigo card. The ''Carte Navigo Easy'' was introduced on 12 June 2019 to replace the majority of the magnetic paper single-trip "t+" tickets (but not yet the 1 to 5 days '' Paris Visite'' tickets) by loading them the same Navigo card. On 13 November 2019, the ''Carte Navigo Liberté+'' subscription was introduced, which allows single-trip transfers between RER zone 1, metro, tramway and bus during the 90 minute trip. Subscribers are billed monthly on all trips made, with a daily cost cap that equals a daily ticket. After a test of the new application by members of staff and users since July 2018, with the operator Orange then with Samsung Galaxy phones, on 25 September 2019, the payment and loading of the Navigo card season tickets and some single tickets was made possible to all on

smartphones A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

and their validation at turnstiles became directly possible with the smartphone. File:Navigo prototype.jpg, Prototype of the Navigo card before it was introduced to users File:Validateur Navigo Metro-RER.JPG, Navigo-only turnstile File:Validateur Navigo Bus-Tram.JPG, Navigo validator in buses and trams File:Bornettes Velib'.JPG,

card reader File:Carte Navigo 2018 Verso.jpg, New version since 2018 File:Navigo Easy.jpg, Carte Navigo Easy introduced in 2019

References

External links

*
Official Navigo website
*
Passe Navigo Découverte and Carte Orange Hebdomadaire
*
Page du site de la RATP sur Navigo
{{Paris transport network Fare collection systems in France Transport in Île-de-France Contactless smart cards