Back to Paris (trains in France)

May 16, 2023

Today we returned to Paris to Séte and I thought I should post a bit about our experience of taking bikes on trains in France.

First, for the direct fast trains, you must book ahead of time and must add your bike to your ticket when booking. For the slower local trains that make lots of stops, it is still recommended to book ahead of time with your bike, but in theory not required. We booked all our tickets ahead of time.

We did our booking of all trains through the sncf web site. If you need the site in English (like us), scroll to near the bottom where you see the "choix du pays" drop down and pick "Europe (other countries)".

The good news is that if you book your ticket with your bike and show up on the platform on time, then you will get on the train with your bike. Sometimes the bike area will be full of bikes or sometimes people pile luggage in the bike area which they are not supposed to do. But if you have a ticket that says you have a bike, the conductor will make sure you get your bike on and everything will work out. That is our experience.

The last thing to say is that from our experience across six trains, the trains all ran on time and were a very pleasant experience once the bikes were secured.

Our first train. A local train. We were the first bikes to get on at the beginning of the line, so placing bikes was easy. But as it got more crowded, people got creative. Notice the bike on the ground slid underneath the hanging bikes. There was another bike stored in the the space between carriages.

This is the dedicated bike storage space on the InOui fast trains. Fitting four bikes in the space takes a bit of cooperation stacking them in either direction and strapping them in, but it works.

Doug and Donna were on a different train for the final leg of our journey and this is what they encountered in the bike storage space when they got on. The sign states that the space is reserved for bikes, but it didn't stop a school class on an extended field trip from using it for luggage. Two conductors came back and had a long discussion with the school teachers. The conductor made sure Doug and Donna got on with their bikes which ended up being stored in the doorway, preventing people from using it to get on or off the train

This was back on our first train ride from Paris. I encountered the same situation as Doug and Donna. A school class had filled the space with luggage. In my case a school teacher rushed over and started removing luggage and helped get my bike secured.

So in summary, I recommend booking tickets with your bike in advance and then don't stress about it. It may require some bike Tetris, but you will get on. Then enjoy the ride.

Today's ride: 5 miles (8 km)
Total: 994 miles (1,600 km)

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