Letters: End of Paris Métro ticket books leaves me nostalgic

To the Editor,

I smiled when I read that the "carnet" of 10 tickets on the Paris Métro will be discontinued, as I can still remember getting Métro tickets bound in the actual carnet –which was a little book of 10, like a miniature cheque book. 

You tore out each ticket from its perforations when you wanted to use it. 

There was a discount given if you bought tickets in the book of 10 instead of singly. 

Single €2.50 ticket price to be introduced across Paris region for metros and trains

Its discontinuation occurred about 50 years ago in fact, when the current kind of tickets with magnetic strips were introduced along with automatic barriers. 

They were not able to cope with some of the tickets having perforations at one end.

I was surprised at the time when I asked for a carnet and received 10 separate tickets, dispensed by a chute – very futuristic back then. 

I said it wasn't a carnet, but perhaps it should now be called a "dizaine" of tickets. 

The clerk said to the effect that you still had to buy 10 at a time to get the discount, and it had been decided by someone above his pay grade to keep the old name. 

To take the positive from the new prices, it is clear that you now get a 20% discount on every pre-bought ticket, without any need to buy in batches of 10. 

Ray Booth, by email

Have you noticed any changes in France that made you reminisce about times gone by? Let us know your experience at letters@connexionfrance.com