Navigo pass

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Navigo-only turnstile

Navigo validator in buses and trams

Vélib''s card reader

The Navigo pass is a means of payment for public transportation introduced in the Île-de-France region (whose capital is the city of Paris) introduced in 2001. It is implemented as a Smart Card with the Calypso system, and enables authenticated access at turnstiles by waving the card near an electronic reader.

The pass is available either attached to an account for residents of the Île-de-France (known simply as Passe Navigo), or as an anonymous pre-paid card (Passe Navigo Découverte). While the account based passes are free, a Découverte pass costs €5 at ticket booths. The passes can be charged at ticket booths and machines for weekly, monthly or annual use.

Navigo passes can be used on the vehicles of the RATP, the SNCF (within the Transilien network), Optile, and companies under the aegis of the Syndicat des transports d'Île-de-France (STIF), as well as with the new Vélib' bicycle rental system (account-based passes only).

[edit] History

When the system was introduced in 2001, it was only available to subscribers of the carte Intégrale annual pass; in 2003 it was increased to users of the carte Imagine'R student pass; and from 2005 the Navigo pass was available for travel within zones one and two of the Paris transportation region for Carte Orange weekly and monthly passes. Since mid-May 2006, it has been possible to use the Navigo pass in the entirety of the Île-de-France region in place of the paper tickets of the conventional Carte Orange. Single-trip paper tickets are still available from station agents and ticket vending machines and are accepted in all stations and buses, though busier Métro and RER stations will usually have one or two turnstiles set aside for Navigo card holders exclusively.