Buses, metros, trains — getting a ticket

Public transit vocabulary is short and useful: le métro (subway), le bus (bus — same word, French pronunciation "boos"), le tramway (tram), le train (train), le TGV (high-speed inter-city train), le RER (Paris suburban train).

Buying tickets: un ticket (one ride), un carnet (book of 10 — Paris), un pass journée or pass 24h (day pass), un abonnement (subscription / season pass). In Paris the Navigo Easy is a rechargeable card replacing the paper carnet for most uses.

Useful sentences:

• Un ticket de métro, s'il vous plaît. — One metro ticket, please.

• Le prochain train pour [destination] part à quelle heure? — When does the next train to [destination] leave?

• Ce train va à [destination]? — Does this train go to [destination]?

• Quel quai? — Which platform?

• Composter votre billet — Validate your ticket (older signs at French rail stations — you used to have to punch your ticket in a yellow machine before boarding regional trains; mostly automated now but signs persist).

In Quebec (Montreal STM), un billet = one ride, une carte OPUS = the rechargeable transit card. Bus and metro share the same fare network. Outside Montreal, intercity buses (Orléans Express, FlixBus) are how you get between cities for many routes.