Ratp

Im happy to say we survived, honestly I was a bit scuuured.

Ok it’s true it’s easy to get around most of the city with it. But why oh why are some stations so trashed up and why does Opera have to stink so much all the time? And why oh why does transport end so early during the week? And on the weekend when it’s supposed to be for one more hour, it’s only like 45min more of service? Just add a couple hours to make it really useful, and some of the automatic lines like line 14 could be opened all night long at the very least for the white night when everyone’s expecting it. There’s so much room for progress it’s ridiculous… And stop going on strike for everyone’s sake, the governement doesn’t really care if people can’t take the subway!!! The trains is another story now…

You strike, I suffer, rate you horribly.

The trains are alright, but some of the stations need to be spruced up a bit. Most are dated and some are down right filthy. I was shocked at the grottiness and the advanced state of decay that I observed in parts of certain stations. All in all, this is not a good face to present to visitors to Paris, to say nothing of the insult to the people who live there.

Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP), a public transport authority that operates bus services and light rail lines. RATP = New York City’s MTA. As per Wikipedia «Paris Métro or Métropolitain comprises of sixteen lines, mostly underground, total length of 214 km (133 miles), and 300 stations.»
Being a native New Yorker of riding the subway or Metro all my life, I surely was not accustom to having any Metro system close at 2:15am for the operating hours. Thus, four stars. Unlike Paris or other metropolitan cities, New York’s subway system operates ²⁴⁄₇ at 365 days a year which unionized labor makes the Big Apple that «never sleeps.» The system lines are identified by numbers and letters. There are six cars for a train which is small as oppose to the familiar eight cars per train along with the typical New York abrasive mannerism of «push and shove.» Surprisingly Parisians are polite to tourists with «pardon» for the American verison of «excuse me.»
My former love and I purchased a Carte Orange for five days, which gives unlimited access to the Métro within a certain zone for that time period. The line we’ve taken to the Eiffel Tower was actually using double-​decker trains. This was something neither of us had seen before. Also new to us were the manual doors, which you must push a button or pull a lever to open rather than having the conductor open the doors for riders. However, only a couple of lines have newer trains whose doors open automatically.
Many of the station platforms are ornately adorn with replica artwork from The Louvre or Museum d’ Orsay and is relatively clean.