A Bit of History
The Métro opened on 19 July 1900,
its first line being from Porte de Vincennes to Porte Maillot
(not surprising it is now the line number 1). Fulgence Bienvenüe
was the engineer in charge of construction, the architect Hector
Guimard being responsible for the Art Nouveau entrances (see
image).
The system has 199 km (124 miles) of track and 15 lines. There
are 368 stations (not including RER stations), 87 of these being
interchanges between lines.
Every building is within 500 metres of a métro station.
There are 3500 cars which transport roughly 6 million people
per day. There are 15000 employees of the métro (1989
statistics).
An example of one of the Art Nouveau métro entrances
designed by Hector Guimard between 1898-1904: Abbesses in the
18th arrondissement.
Métro/RER
ticket (both sides) .
Individual Métro ticket is 8FF; packet of 10 tickets
(a Carnet) is slightly more reasonable. Cost of RER tickets
depends on distance traveled. Within central Paris cost is
the same as Métro tickets, and the same ticket is also
valid on both systems.
Both the Métro and the RER (Réseau Express
Régional) are run by the RATP - Régie Autonome
des Transports Parisiens. The RATP also runs the busses.
