The general conditions of use of the Imagine R student travel pass set out the measures that can be taken in the event of loss or theft of a Navigo pass. One of the clauses states that tickets bought by customers whilst waiting for their Navigo pass to be reissued will be refunded:

Art. 5-2:    

"Refunds apply only to tickets purchased for travel between the date the declaration of loss/theft is received by the Imagine R Agency and the date on which the replacement Navigo Imagine R pass is sent out (as per postmark). Requests for a refund must be sent by post to the Imagine R Agency and must be accompanied by the original tickets purchased while waiting to receive the new pass".

The Mediation officer

Considers that this refund offer is an important gesture to customers. However, it notes that it is company policy to only refund tickets bought up to the date on which the new pass is sent out and not up to the date it is received by the customer, which probably means that many customers still have to pay for some of their own tickets until they are actually able to use their new pass.

This is why

It has asked RATP to look into the possibility of extending the period during which replacement tickets are refunded.

He has also asked that if this change is made, that it be included in the general conditions of the Imagine R student and school passes.

The general conditions of the Intégrale travel pass set out the ways in which the pass can be suspended:

Art. 6-1:    

"The travel pass can be suspended and then resumed at any time. This can only be done at a sales office.”

The Mediation officer

Considers that this option brings flexibility to the Navigo pass when customers are faced with an unexpected situation. Nonetheless, it observes that passes can only be suspended if customers apply to do this at a sales office, meaning that those who are unable to get out and travel cannot benefit from this facility.

This is why

He has asked RATP to look into the conditions in which a customer in the above described situation can benefit from a suspension to their travel pass.

He has also asked that if any changes are made, that they be included in the general conditions of the Intégrale annual travel pass.

The T3/Orlybus connections displayed on board trams are unclear and could be potentially misleading to passengers.

The Mediation officer

Considers that the map on display inside the T3 trams leads passengers to believe that they can get to Orly airport by taking the Orlybus line either at the Montsouris Tombe-Issoire stop, or at the Stade Charléty stop. Now, this is simply not true, the Montsouris Tombe-Issoire stop on the Orlybus line is reserved for passengers getting off from Orly and, moreover, the last stop for the buses travelling in this direction is Denfert-Rochereau.

This is why

He has asked RATP to look into the possibility of changing the map of the T3 line on display on board trams and to remove the connection with the Orlybus line at this line's Tombe-Issoire Montsouris stop.

If no end-of-service time is displayed on ticket machines, customers might still buy tickets even though there will be no further buses for them to board.

The Mediation officer

Thinks that while automatic ticket sales may be a necessity for the company, it needs to provide sufficient information so that customers are able to make well-informed decisions when buying their ticket. With Roissybus, this need for information is especially evident given that a large proportion of customers are unfamiliar with the line's operating times. At present, if a customer buys a ticket outside the line's normal operating time they have to look and pay for another means of travel despite having already paid for their ticket. And customer services refuse to give customers a refund for unused tickets.

This is why

He has asked RATP to look into the possibility of providing passengers with sufficient and clear information about service start and end times on automatic ticket machines.

The extension of the T2 tram line from the Issy Val-de-Seine station to Porte de Versailles has greatly improved the travelling conditions of passengers from West Paris living in the inner suburbs and makes it easier for visitors to get to and from the Parc des Expositions. Yet the fare price rules leave much to be desired.

The Mediation officer

Notes that two different fare prices now apply to the T2 line depending on the station at which the passenger gets on.  If they get on at La Défense and want to stop at one of the stations up to and including Issy Val-de-Seine, they can use a Ticket t+ or an origine/destination ticket. However, if they continue their journey past Issy Val-de-Seine, or get on at this station to travel in the direction of Porte de Versailles, for example, after having taken RER line C, they need a Ticket t+. In other words, the same passenger carrying an origine/destination ticket would have to validate a new ticket, the Ticket t+, while he is on the train, to avoid committing an offence!

This is why

He has asked RATP to look into the possibility of simplifying the fares on the T2 line by authorising use of the origine/destination ticket from end to end.

Certain conditions apply to tickets carried by passengers but if a passenger buys an origine/destination ticket at an SNCF ticket office, they can read, in clear print, that it can be used on the rail networks. If this ticket is bought at an RATP ticket office, however, they will see the logos of the Metro and RER networks on it. At first sight, the way in which these tickets can be used seems identical, except for one detail: for SNCF the term rail network encompasses the tramway, whereas RATP considers the tramway to be a surface network and therefore likens it to a bus. 

The Mediation officer

Notes that the different meanings of the RATP and SNCF ticket markings are likely to mislead and confuse passengers as to how their origin/destination tickets can be used on the tramway lines, and will make ticket inspection on those lines particularly difficult.

This is why

He has asked RATP to look into making what is written on the origin/destination tickets issued by SNCF and RATP more consistent so that they clearly show what the passengers' rights are, without any ambiguity.

He has also asked it to clarify the information available on the ratp.fr website under the "itinerary" section, which includes under the same term "rail", the metro, the RER, SNCF trains and... the tramway.

The ratp.fr website allows passengers to prepare their route and optimise their choices using a multi-criteria approach. The service it offers is practical and very reliable. However, at no point does the information given include details about the applicable fares.

The Mediation officer

Notes that the information provided on the ratp.fr website when completing an itinerary search, disregarding the usable tickets and, still less, the applicable fares, is likely, due to its incompleteness, to leave passengers in a difficult situation given the complexity of the fares.

This is why

He has asked RATP to inform passengers if their journey will require them to make a connection that requires another ticket.

Ticket inspection is necessary so that the company can ensure the people using the network are doing so legally. But STIF, the transport organising authority, also requires RATP to do this under the terms of the long-term contract which binds it to the Organising Authority.

With the creation of the Customer Inspection Service in 2009, RATP now has a cross-disciplinary inspection organisation, capable of working on all of the networks. We have seen how training can create harmony between the practices of the various networks. This approach will likely make ticket inspections more common and will therefore increase its acceptability among customers.

Having read many letters from customers, in the vast majority of cases, people do not mind having their ticket inspected and understand why it is done, but some customers say they had difficulty getting the inspector to understand them, at the time they were being booked for an offence, when they said they had validated their ticket:

- "I told him I'd put my ticket in the machine but he didn't believe me and didn't want to check whether it was working or not",

- " I saw the green light come on, I had no reason to think my ticket wasn't working",

- "when I got off the bus, I went to the metro station and the staff there told me my ticket was demagnetised".

The Mediation officer

Considers that with the arrival of the Navigo pass, the ways in which tickets are inspected have changed dramatically, notably with the use of the portable reader, capable of "reading" the content of the media. But Navigo passes are generally bought by customers who are used to using public transport, while tickets, either single or books of tickets, are preferred by occasional passengers who can often be inexperienced at using them.

This is why

He has asked that when setting up a Customer Inspection Service, RATP should consider applying a ticket inspection method that takes into account the specificity of this media and the corresponding validation and inspection equipment.