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PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

Eiffel Tower to keep Olympic rings after Games: Paris mayor

The Eiffel Tower will keep the Olympic rings that have adorned it since June after the ongoing Paralympic Games, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Saturday.

Published: 1 September 2024 10:45 CEST

This photograph shows the Eiffel Tower bearing the Olympics rings, lit-up ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. (Photo by MANAN VATSYAYANA / AFP)

“As mayor of Paris, the decision is up to me and I have the agreement of the IOC (International Olympic Committee),” Hidalgo told French daily Ouest-France.

“So yes, they (the rings) will stay on the Eiffel Tower,” she said, without specifying for how long.

She said five lighter rings of the same size would replace those fixed on the French capital’s most emblematic monument because the current ones are “too heavy” to hold out for a long time.

Hidalgo also repeated her wish to see the Olympic cauldron stay in the Tuileries Gardens, but President Emmanuel Macron will have the final say as the site is state property.

Organisers have won widespread domestic and international praise for the smooth running of the games with Paris’s most iconic monuments providing a picturesque backdrop.

Hidalgo hailed a success where the French people “fell back in love with Paris” which “will never be the same again”, citing plans to reauthorise swimming in parts of the River Seine by summer 2025.

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Paris unveils sweeping transport price changes for 2025

The head of the Paris region and leader of Ile-de-France Mobilités, Valérie Pécresse, announced on Tuesday that there would be wide ranging changes to the prices for public transport tickets, taking effect from January 2nd, 2025.

The biggest change is introducing a single price for all journeys in the region – in contrast the current system where journeys into Paris from the outer suburbs are more expensive, in effect penalising commuters who live further out.

For example, under the previous system, taking the commuter train from Fontainebleau to Paris could cost up to €5, in contrast to the €2.15 ticket to get around inside Paris.

Pécresse explained to Le Parisien that the main goal is simplification and fairness.

“The aim is to take a ‘single Navigo pass’ to its logical conclusion. The principle that all Ile-de-France residents pay the same transport fair, whether they live in the suburbs or the city.

“[The change] will bring an end to the 50,000 different fares that have become unreadable and are sometimes unfair. It’s a real social project based on fairness and freedom,” Pécresse said.

Many of the capital’s lowest-paid workers live in the less expensive outer suburbs, and they have been effectively penalised by the current pricing structure.

However there are other changes coming down the line too.

Here are the changes;

Metro and RER

The Paris Metro system, as well as the commuter RER lines, will be combined onto one single ticket, costing €2.50 for any journey within the greater Paris region.

This means that a transport user could switch from the RER and onto the Metro with the same ticket, regardless of how far they have travelled or how many zones they have crossed.

This change will represent an increase of €0.35 (from the €2.15) from the 2024 price for single Metro tickets inside the city.

However, for people travelling to and from the Paris suburbs, the single ticket will likely save them a significant amount.

For example, a journey between Paris and Noisy-le-Grand (Zone 4) cost €4.15 under the previous system, but it will cost €2.50 under the new system.

The only exception to this is tickets to and from Paris’ airports (more on that below).

Bus and tram

A new ticket will be created for the bus and tram lines. This will cost be separate to the Metro and RER ticket, and it will cost €2 per journey.

However, those purchasing a bus ticket on-board (via SMS) will still pay a heightened price of €2.50.

The other change will be ‘long-distance’ bus journeys. Previously, if a journey took longer than one hour and thirty minutes and involved more than one bus, then the user would have had to pay for two separate tickets per bus ride. Moving forward, ‘long’ bus journeys will cost just one €2 ticket.

This change means that transport users will need to think about buying separate Metro/ RER and bus/tram tickets if their journey requires both methods of transport.

For example, if you take the RER and then take a bus, you would need two separate tickets, as Metro/RER tickets are only valid on those lines, and bus/tram tickets are only valid on those lines.

Liberté +

This pay-as-you-go card will be made significantly more attractive under the new system, but it is only available to Paris region residents.

You have to subscribe online and connect the account to your RIB, for which you will need a French bank account. You can also track your consumption online, and at the end of the month you pay the total amount that you travelled.

The changes for the Liberté + will include a lower price for Metro/RER journeys (€1.99) and a reduced rate for bus/tram journeys (€1.60).

If you take a journey that combines the Metro and the bus, for example, then you would only pay one price (€1.99) for the entire journey, rather than needing to purchase two separate single tickets.

The other change is that the Liberté + will extend to the rest of Ile-de-France – it was previously only available inside of Paris (Zone 1).

And starting in spring 2025, the Liberté + will be available to load directly onto an Android or iOS enabled smartphone.

Generally, the Liberté + will be a more advantageous option for local residents to pay reduced prices and as-they-go.

Packets of 10 tickets

The ‘carnets’, or 10-ticket books, will be phased out entirely starting in January 2025.

The paper version of these booklets was already phased out, but a reduced price for a bundle of 10 tickets will no longer be available in any form starting in January.

If you want to purchase a bundle of tickets at once, you can still do so – and you can still store them on a Navigo Easy pass – but you will have to pay full price (€2.50 each or €25 for 10).

Trips to the airport

Trips to and from Paris’ airports will be the only exception to the new €2.50 flat rate.

Previously, trips to the airport cost a varying amount based on whether you took the Roissy/Charles de Gaulle bus (€16.60), Roissy/Charles de Gaulle RER (€11.80), Orly bus (€11.50), or Orly Line 14 (€10.30).

Moving forward, only one flat price of €13 will be charged for any and all trips to the airport.

Daily pass

Daily Metro passes, popular amongst tourists, allow for unlimited travel. Previously, they were priced based on the zones the visitor selected – so if you selected a two-zone option (Zones 1-2; Zones 2-3; Zones 3-4, etc) then you would pay €8.65 for the day.

A three-zone option (Zones 1-3, Zones 2-4, Zones 3-5) cost €11.60. The four zone option (Zones 1-4, Zones 2-5) cost €14.35, and the full option (Zones 1-5) cost €20.60.

However, the zoning will be scrapped from January, and instead, single day passes will cover all five zones and cost a flat price of €12. This does not include airports, however, so a separate airport ticket would be required.

Visitor pass

As for the visitor pass – this previously allowed two options for unlimited daily travel in the Paris area – either including just Zones 1-3 for €13.95 (per day), or including all five zones (and airports) for €29.95 (per day).

The new version will cost €29.90 and it will include all five zones, plus airports.

What about monthly and yearly Navigo passes?

Pécresse explained to Le Parisien that these will not change, as the focus is primarily on occasional travellers.

“For Navigo subscribers, nothing is changing. We are working within the framework of the agreement signed with the state, so future increases of these passes will always be less than or equal to inflation plus one percent,” Pécresse said.

What will the general impact be?

This will depend on whether you are a resident of the city of Paris (Zone 1), the Paris suburbs, or if you are a visitor.

For residents of Paris and the inner suburbs travel with single tickets inside the city will get more expensive, but the Liberté + plan is meant to offset these increases.

Meanwhile, outer suburb residents will likely see a significant decrease in their spending.

On the other hand occasional Metro users will see an increase in price while tourists and visitors will also see an increase.

What about my old tickets?

Any old paper tickets or individual electronic tickets (perhaps stored on a Navigo Easy pass) will still be functional until December 31st, 2025.

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