Transportation:

During our week in Paris, we relied heavily on walking to get from place to place. However, we did also make use of Le Metro which proved to be very efficient and Le Batobus on a few occasions - the western terminus was at Le Tour Eiffel. [Traveller’s tip - the Paris Metro App is worth getting].   We did observe that Le Metro is not friendly for those with disability or mobility issues: there are almost no escalators or elevators; the turnstiles could not be used by those with mobility challenges, or travelling to or from the airport with suitcases and hand luggage.

Parisians have so many choices when it comes to personal transportation, quite apart from cars. There are “foot scooters” both manual and electric - they go anywhere causing problems for pedestrians and motorists alike as they weave in and around cars. Then there are all kinds of motor scooters from the classic Vespa to fully powered motorbikes. There are motorbikes that have 2 front wheels and 1 back wheel, or 2 back wheels and 1 front wheel. There are motorbikes with 2 front and 2 back wheels that are enclosed - resembling a car. There seem to be few rules for any of these vehicles - some stay on the street, others come on to the sidewalk. Some operators obey the traffic signals, kind of, while others ignore them completely!!

Velib - the bike sharing program was everywhere - the accompanying map illustrates the density of Velib stations. We did not access the service - some of us were apprehensive of tackling the Parisian traffic chaos.