On Riding the Metro

Ticket or Multi-Trip or Multi-Day Pass?

Depending on the number of trips you want to make, you'll have to determine whether it's more beneficial to purchase individual tickets or a multi-day pass. Individual tickets cost $3 right now, whereas a 1-day pass will cost you $10. So you would have to be taking at least 4 trips (a trip is from when you enter a metro station to when you exit a metro station), otherwise it's more economical to purchase individual tickets. Check the public transit available fares on http://www.stm.info/en before you travel to determine your best options. For us, we ended up buying individual tickets for two days, then using the unlimited public transit add-on option of the museum pass. If you are a party animal, go for the unlimited weekend pass that allows travel Friday 6pm through Monday 5am. 

Multi-day or multi-trip passes are loaded on a multi-use OPUS card (so hand on to it as long as it is valid), but single and double trip tickets are printed on paper tickets. 

Paying

If you have a credit card without a chip (the following is an example of a card with a chip embedded), you will need to buy your ticket or pass from customer service.  

Example of a card with embedded chip

Your best bet for easy ticket-purchasing is to just use cash to purchase your tickets from the automated machine. To use your paper ticket, slide it into the (arrow-indicator green) turn-style's post in the card slot. If you purchased a pass (which comes on an OPUS card), you simply hold it above the turn-style and it will scan. 

Riding the Metro

Use your common sense! If you have a pet, keep it in it's carrier. If you're talking on a phone (good luck with signal underground, though), stand near the end of the car and keep your conversation quiet. Give up your seat for elderly people, handicapped people, pregnant people, or anyone who looks unwell. For comfortable riding, avoid the peak usage hours (9-10am and 5-6p Monday through Friday) otherwise you may be crammed in or even waiting for a non-full car to arrive so you can squeeze into it. It is illegal to hold the door open for others (listen for the sound made when the doors are about to close) - if you get caught, you'll be smacked with a big fine.