How to Use the Paris Bus System

Paris has an extensive bus service that can quickly move around the city thanks to the city’s many bus lanes. Most visitors don’t use the bus for two reasons — the Metro is excellent and the bus is a little more confusing to use. The bus is also great because you get to actually see the beautiful city as you travel.

However, the bus is great because you get to actually see the beautiful city as you travel and it’s good for shorter journeys.

Tickets

The bus uses the same tickets as the Metro. We highly recommend pre-purchasing a carnet (book of 10 tickets). You can buy a single ticket from the driver with coins (they prefer exact change) but it’s

You can also buy a single ticket from the driver with coins (they prefer exact change) but it’s way easier to buy tickets ahead of time (and sometimes the drivers are a bit grumpy).

Using The City Bus

There are multiple bus routes (around 60) so we recommend buying a book that shows all the routes or downloading an app on your phone. Each stop/bus shelter should have a large map with all the routes but it gets a bit overwhelming. There are also a number of apps that will everything much more manageable.

Buses run about every 5-10 minutes during the week but service slows to about every 15-20 minutes on Sunday. Bus service isn’t quite as reliable as the Metro so times will vary.

Routes start around 7 am and run to around 9 pm (but some go until around midnight). There are a number of night busses (Noctilien) that run on alternate routes and these run much less frequently.

Riding The Bus

After you board the bus, you’ll insert your ticket into a ticket validation box by the door. Hold on to your ticket.

There are electronic signs on all the buses that tell you the next stop. There are buttons throughout the bus that you push to alert the driver that you want to get off at the next stop.

A good number of elderly people ride the bus so be considerate and offer your seat to them.