You know you’re becoming Parisian when taking the Paris Metro does not sound like fun. For Parisians it is synonymous with métro, boulot dodo and the daily commute. There are some fun aspects to the Paris Metro though, you just have to take a minute to find them. Here’s a few people’s take on how to have fun with the Paris Metro.
Gilles Esposito-Farèses, Physics researcher, poet and word play specialist made an entire map of the Paris metro, making an anagram of each station’s name. Here’s a few of his gems. See the full map on http://www.gef.free.fr/metro.html the blog of . With this map you’ll be surely lost, but laughing !
Anagrams of Paris metro stations :
- Opéra : Apéro
- Marcel Sembat : L’as Camembert
- Sevrès-Lecourbe : Lèvres courbées
- Simplon : Mon slip
- Tuileries : Réutilisé
- George V : Over egg
- Campo Formio : I am from Coop
- Les Halles : Less a hell
- FUSAC’s station : Porte de Saint Cloud : Ce tordu désopilant
Shari Leslie Segall wrote about the Paris metro from A to Z in a humorous Abecedarian and about the stations names.
Luc Grateau paints portraits on Paris metro tickets during his commute – he’s done over 1500 or 2000. He also paints on café receipts and leaves fidning a new medium as the metro ticket fades into history.
Marvin Parks, an American Jazz singer, sings in the corridors of La Motte-Piquet station. Listen to his deep, soothing voice.
Do you know Serge, the RATP safety mascot? Sure you do! Read more
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The annual Paris metro treasure hunt! Takes place every September during the Journées du Patrimoine. https://www.ratp.fr/groupe-ratp/newsroom/culture/la-ratp-lance-un-jeu-de-piste-inedit-a-travers-les-couloirs-du-metro
The submarine metro station is amusing. Many stations have themed decor, but Arts et Métiers goes to a new dimension and looks like the inside of a submarine similar to that of Captain Nemo from Jules Verne’s ”Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”. Copper wall plating is attached with large golden rivets to the curved walls. Everything is of copper, even the garbage cans and port holes! The metro station was opened in October, 1994 and was designed by the Belgian cartoonist Francois Schuiten. That maybe explains something!
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Maps:
Redbubble, a design company has created http://metromap.fr/en, a completely rethought map with lots of curves. It may actually be easier to use and more fun. Looks like a roller coaster. Pretty enough to even hang on the wall.
RATP-Itineraries, search for your route easily https://www.ratp.fr/itineraires
Fun stats:
The Paris metro is 1.5 billion riders per year. Line 1 was built in 1900. The longest line at 23.4 kilometers, is line 8. There are 220 total kilometers of tracks.
In a car the average speed in Paris is 15,2 km/h in the metro line 14 averages 40 km/h, line one 30 km/h and line four 20 km/h.
9,2 millions travelers go through the station Place de Clichy each year, only 636,000 at Chardon-Lagache.
Each metro line has a Twitter account.
If you were to put each Paris metro rider’s trips end to end you’d have a distance of 5.16 million kilometers per day – the equivalent of 129 trips around the Earth.
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Even though the price keeps going up the 6 is less expensive than many other transit systems. You might even smile when you compare (and these are 2018 prices!):
Paris 75,2€ for a monthly pass
London 379€
Berlin 100,50€
Madrid 89,50€
New York $121/103€
Toronto CAD146/98€