Contactless Transport in London vs Paris

Paris’s public transport tickets suck… for now! In his blog post yesterday, Terence Eden observed that of all the cities he’s travelled to over the last year, Paris had the most-ridiculously-unhelpful public transport ticketing system: Fuck Paris. The only way to buy a metro ticket is to download an app. Fair enough. But, after downloading the app it tells you to install another app! What the actual fuck? A convoluted, messy, and frustrating situation which has resulted in awful reviews for them. Trains and metro travel require separate tickets at different prices. You can’t easily hop from one to another. You need to think carefully about the route you’re taking. A more convoluted route may be significantly cheaper because it doesn’t involve swapping between services. This absolutely parallels my experience of hopping around the Paris’s metro area, last time I was there. If I’ve got to navigate my way through Paris’s public transport network… I’m going to need a drink first. I was…