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The alternatives to taking taxis when visiting Paris

If you want to avoid high fees or the possibility of getting ripped off by unlicensed drivers, Paris has several start-ups that offer alternatives to traditional taxis.

The alternatives to taking taxis when visiting Paris
A taxi with a taxi sign in Paris (Photo by KENZO TRIBOUILLARD / AFP)

Taking a taxi in Paris can sometimes be a harrowing experience – it certainly was for Fergus Shepherd, who was visiting Paris with his wife and children during the half term holiday and was unpleasantly surprised to find a charge for €890 on his credit card. Shepherd believes it was linked to short taxi ride he took between two of Paris’s most famous tourist spots.

While it is not certain that Shepherd’s charge was linked to his Paris taxi ride, many tourists in France’s capital have been targeted by scams related to taxi services.

Most often, these are perpetrated by unlicensed drivers – especially at airports and train stations – who charge rip-off fares.

READ MORE: Paris tourist says trip ruined by ‘€890 taxi fare’

While the city of Paris has been attempting to clamp down on unlicenced drivers in recent months, tourists and locals alike might be looking for safe alternatives to Paris taxis. 

Recently, gig workers won additional rights in France – meaning there is a standard rate charged per journey in a VTC. As of 2024, this was set to €10.60, according to BFMTV.

Uber

The one that everyone knows, Uber is available in Paris although you might find it more expensive than in cities like London (because the drivers are employees and therefore entitled to social benefits). It’s available in the city and the suburbs, although there are sometimes long waits and if you take one on a strike day it’s highly likely that the fares will be hiked.

G7

This service will connect you with an official Paris taxi – the same ones that you can hail in the street, but the app allows you to book up to 30 days in advance, so it’s handy for late night or early morning airport runs. It also has an option to select ‘pet friendly’ if you’re travelling with an animal. 

Payment works in the same way as Uber – users save their credit card information on the app and therefore do not need to pay on board.  At the conclusion of the ride, the fare will be charged and the user will receive a voucher by email. 

If you do not want to download the app, you can also call the phone number listed on their website.

Bolt

This ride-share app operates very similarly to Uber, in that you can call a car at the moment you need one. You can also set it up so that there are multiple stops, if needed. 

If you share the application with a friend, or they share it with you, then you might be entitled to a discount on your next ride.  Also, if you are travelling for business, Bolt has an option for how to expense your work rides by creating a “work profile” on the application so that it knows to send receipts to your work email, as well as to provide monthly reports with ride details.

In France, this type of ride share application is called a “VTC” or “Véhicule de Tourisme avec Chauffeur.

Marcel – Le VTC à la française 

This French ride-share company has received accolades for its commitment to environmental protection, specifically the promise that all CO2 emissions will be offset via the Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s Goodplanet Foundation. Additionally, most drivers operate electric or hybrid vehicles. 

When you log onto the application, you can choose to either “plan a trip” or “leave now.” Keep in mind that planning a trip in advance might be slightly more expensive than the option to “leave now.”

To use Marcel you can go to the website or download one of the mobile apps for Android or iOS (iPhone, iPad).

Heetch

Heetch – a play on words with the English expression “hitchhike” – is also a French ride share company. The start-up begin in 2013, and it was originally intended to be specifically for people returning home from nightclubs, so it was only available for use between 8pm and 6am from Thursday to Saturday.

Since then, the application has adapted to be available at all times of day, every day of the week. 

What sets Heetch apart from other ride hailing apps is the fact that passengers can pay in cash if they would like. Once you have plugged in the address that you want to go to, the application will ask whether you want to pay in cash or by card.

Otherwise, the interface is quite similar to Uber – you can see where nearby cars are located and you can view an estimation of how long your journey will take, when the car will arrive, and how much you can expect to pay. 

READ MORE: What you need to know about taking a taxi in Paris

Le Cab

Le Cab is another French taxi alternative. The application promises that customers will only pay the fixed price they agree to when reserving their ride. 

One advantage to Le Cab is that its stated prices to Paris airports are listed on their website: to go to Orly from Paris, pricing starts at €37, and to go to Roissy CDG pricing starts at €48. 

Le Cab advertises itself on its availability across the country. It is available in 24 cities across France, so if you are travelling across the country and you are unsure whether one of the other services will be available, Le Cab will likely be present in that city.

Velib

If you are looking to avoid cars altogether, you can always rent a bike while on your trip. While Uber and Lime have options to rent bikes on their applications, you could also go with a city bike rental option.

In Paris, the primary choice would be “Vélib” which was launched in 2007. With over 1,400 docking points across the Greater Paris area, Vélib stations are usually to find. You can also opt for an electric bike (these are coloured blue, instead of green). 

You can rent the bike for 45 minutes for just €3 or you can consider a 24-hour rental, which would cost €5. Normally, at the Vélib station you should be able to enter your credit card information and make an account, but if that is not available then you can do so online.

Subscription plans are also available.

For people with disabilities, there are other options for hiring adapted bikes. These might include low seat bikes, folding bikes, three-wheelers, and more. Two websites – Espace vélo pour tous and Vélo handicap offer accessible alternatives for those with reduced mobility. 

Member comments

  1. I would never take G7

    My husband and I used a G7 taxi in Paris and we’re charged an exorbitant supplement when we arrived at our destination. The fare itself was €14, but the driver added a €7 fee. Our hotel concierge told us we had been ripped off and should have refused to pay it.

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COST OF LIVING

What is considered a good salary in Paris?

The higher-paying jobs are heavily concentrated in the French capital, but set against that is the high cost of living - especially the cost of renting or buying a home. So what is considered a 'high-earner' in Paris?

What is considered a good salary in Paris?

Centrist Renaissance candidate Sylvain Maillard, running for re-election in France’s snap parliamentary elections, was trying to highlight the high cost of living in the capital in a debate on RMC Radio 

“You have extremely expensive rents [in Paris], between €1,500 and €1,700, and then there are all the charges and taxes to pay,” he said.

But what most people seized on was his comment that anyone earning €4,000 a month after tax would not be considered rich in Paris – he predictably was accused of being out of touch with French people’s lives.

There’s no doubt that €4,000 a month is good salary that most people would be happy with – but how much do you need to earn to be considered ‘rich’ in Paris?

National averages

Earlier this year, the independent Observatoire des Inégalités calculated poverty and wealth levels in France.

READ ALSO How much money do you need to be considered rich in France?

According to its calculations, to be considered ‘rich’ in France, a single person with no dependants needs to earn more than €3,860 per month, after taxes and social charges. Around eight percent of single workers have this sum deposited into their bank balance every month, it said.

A total of 23 percent of workers take home €3,000 or more every month, while the top 10 percent clear €4,170. 

To be in the top one percent of earners in France in 2024, one person must bring in at least €10,000 per month. After taxes and social charges.

The median income – the median is the ‘middle value’ of a range of totals – of tax households in mainland France is €1,923 per month after taxes and social charges, according to INSEE 2021 data, which means that a ‘rich’ person earns about twice as much as a person on the median income, according to the Observatoire.

Paris situation

About 75 percent of people living in Paris earn less than €4,458 per month, according to Insee data – so according to those calculations, 25 percent of Parisians earn the equivalent of the top 10 percent in France. 

But that city-wide average still hides a wide degree of variation. In the sixth arrondissement, the median income is €4,358 per month, after tax. In the seventh, it’s €4,255.  Further out, those bringing home €4,600 a month in the 19th and 20th arrondissements are among the top 10 percent in wealth terms.

But still, the median income in Paris is €2,639, significantly higher than the €1,923 France-wide median.

That would mean – using the Observatoire des Inégalités’ starting point for wealth – that a Paris resident, living on their own, would have to bring home €5,278 per month to be considered ‘rich’. 

France is a heavily centralised country, with many of the highest-paying industries concentrated within the capital, meaning there is much more opportunity to secure a high-wage job if you live in Paris.

Cost of living

Even these figures should all be taken with a pinch of salt because of the relatively high cost of living in the capital, compared to elsewhere in France. Paris is objectively an expensive place to call home.

In 2023, France Stratégie published a report on the disposable income of French households, after housing, food and transport costs were deducted. It found that, on average, people living in the Paris region had more left to spend, due to higher incomes and despite the fact that housing costs more.

It’s the income paradox in action. A person with a take-home salary of €4,000 per month has more money to spend if they live and work outside Paris. But they’re much more likely to earn that much if they live and work in Paris, where it’s not as valuable. 

Someone who earns a ‘rich-level’ salary in Paris might not appear rich – because they live in an expensive area, and a surrounded by very wealthy people in property that’s out of reach all-but the fattest of wallets. But they’re still earning more than twice the median income in France.

And that’s what Sylvain Maillard was getting at, clumsily as he may have expressed it.

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