Simple Guide to Public Transportation in Paris

If you are visiting Paris or are moving there soon, you might want to know the best ways to travel around the city through the public transportation systems in Paris. Paris offers five easy public transportation systems that can be easily accessed, and though they may be tough to figure out at first, they are very easy to understand after a couple tries. Starting with the Metro, here are the five methods of public transportation in Paris.

- Metro - The Metro is one of the easiest ways to get around the city of Paris and is also the best in public transportation. The Metro that is run in Paris has 16 different lines and the Metro is by far the quickest means of public transportation. Though the Metro may seem very confusing, this is by far the easiest ways of public transportation in Paris. It is also relatively cheap as the Metro costs only a couple of euros for a one way trip.

- Paris A La Carte - This will probably be the cheapest way to travel if you are a United States citizen. The A La Carte is the International Visitors Card and this allows you to go all over the different zones of Paris. This card allows you to use the Metro as much as you want and is still relatively cheap depending on how many different zones of Paris you go to and how many days you use the Paris A La Carte.

- Bus - Though it is much less exciting as the Metro may be, the bus is still one of the prime public transportation options in Paris. The only problem I have had with the buses in Paris is that they are tough to find the stops without really looking hard. Though the bus system is very well done, it is not quite as good as the public transportation of the Metro in Paris. The buses and Metro are not transferable so watch out for that, but the bus system, overall, is very well done.

- Commuter Rail Train - If you need to leave the city of Paris for the suburbs, you might need to take the Commuter Rail Train. While the Metro is more for movement around the big city of Paris, the Commuter Rail Train is more for getting out of the city. There are 6 different train stations to choose from to get out of the city, and it shouldn't be too tough to find one that will get you to where you need to go.

- Bike - The system run in Paris is actually very bike friendly. In Paris, an easy way to get access to public transportation is to simply rent a bike. By joining with a membership to VELIB, you can rent a bike in Paris for practically nothing. With the amount of bike lanes in Paris, it is a very easy means for public transportation in the city. Biking is also very healthy, and it allows you to really see the sights in Paris if you are a tourist. The VELIB service is one of the best renting services in the world, as you can return your bike to any one of their many stations located all over the city.