Bonjour RATP

Review by eFreeware

Bonjour RATP is a free travel app for the Île-de-France region, built by RATP Smart Systems. It plans journeys across metro, RER, bus, tram and Transilien services, shows how the network is running, and keeps transit tickets on your phone. It has been on the Play Store since June 2010 and sits at a 4.4 average from more than 155,000 ratings, with over ten million installs.

The reason to consider it is breadth. Rather than covering one operator or one mode, it treats the whole region as a single network and folds ticket buying, live departures, disruption alerts and bike-sharing into the same place. For anyone who moves around Paris and its suburbs regularly, that saves switching between several tools.

It is a free download with no ads and no in-app purchases, which is unusual for an app doing this much. Nothing in the way of a paid tier is required to reach the features described, and the developer has kept the app current, with a recent update focused on accessibility and on buying and validating tickets.

Route planning that bends to your habits

Journey planning is the core of the app, and the developer's pitch is that results are shaped by your own preferences rather than a single default. You can tell it to avoid specific lines or stations, weight the modes you prefer, ask for the fewest transfers, or favor routes that are accessible. Those settings matter in a region where two people starting from the same address can reasonably want very different answers.

The coverage claim is the whole region, not just central Paris: metro and RER alongside bus, tram, Transilien SNCF trains and Optile services. That matters if your trip crosses operator boundaries, which many suburban journeys do. I would expect the value here to grow the less your travel looks like a simple point-to-point metro ride.

What appeals to me is the customization on offer. If you always avoid a particular interchange, or you need step-free routing, setting that once and having it applied is the difference between a planner you use and one you fight with.

Live status, departures and disruption alerts

Beyond planning, the app shows the state of the network at a glance and sends alerts when something goes wrong on lines you have marked as favorites. Departure times for your lines appear live, too. Together these cover the two questions that come up most often in a city with this much traffic: is my line running, and when is the next one.

The part I find most useful in principle is what happens during an incident. The developer says the app informs you immediately and suggests an alternative route, which turns an alert from a warning into something actionable. Whether that suggestion is always the one you would have chosen yourself is another matter, but having it offered at the moment you need it is better than starting a fresh search from scratch.

The app rewards a small amount of setup. Marking the two or three lines you actually depend on is what makes the notification stream relevant instead of noisy.

Tickets, passes and bikes in the same app

Ticketing is the second half of the proposition. You can buy Navigo passes by month, week or day, single metro-train-RER tickets, bus and tram tickets, Paris region airport tickets, the Paris Tour Pass, and occasional special tickets such as those issued for the Music Festival or during anti-pollution measures. Purchased tickets live on the phone, so a queue at a machine or counter is no longer part of the routine.

The range is wide enough that most travelers will find the fare that matches how they move. A visitor staying a few days has the day pass and the tour pass; a resident has the monthly or weekly Navigo; someone heading to the airport has a ticket for that specifically. Keeping all of it in one app rather than spread across cards and paper is the practical gain.

Bike-sharing is covered as well, with Vélib', Lime, Dott and Voi bikes available to reserve. That rounds out the last stretch of a journey when the metro does not go quite where you need, and it keeps the alternatives inside the same trip-planning context rather than in separate apps for each operator.

What it asks of you

The app is free, carries no ads and offers no in-app purchases, so there is no paywall standing between you and the features described.

The real requirement is geographic. This is built for journeys within Île-de-France, across the networks the developer lists, and it is not a tool for planning travel in other French regions or other countries. If your trips sit outside that area, the coverage that makes the app worthwhile does not apply.

There is also a small amount of effort on your side to get the most from it. Setting your route preferences and choosing favorite lines is part of getting the most from it. Used without any of that, it still plans trips, but you leave the parts that distinguish it from a generic map on the table.

Getting more out of it day to day

The sensible way in is to spend a few minutes on setup rather than treating it as a search box. Add the lines you rely on most so disruption alerts reach you about the right things, and set the preferences that reflect how you actually travel, whether that is avoiding a station you dislike or prioritizing accessible routes.

For ticketing, it helps to know which fare fits your pattern before you buy. The app sells day, week and month Navigo passes alongside single tickets and airport fares, so a short visit and a long stay call for different choices. Buying the pass that matches your stay is the difference between convenience and paying for coverage you will not use.

When something goes wrong on your line, the alert and the suggested alternative arrive together, so it is worth reading the suggestion rather than immediately running a fresh search. And if you are mixing modes, remember the bike-sharing side is there for the last leg; a trip that starts on the RER and ends on a Vélib' can be planned as one journey.

A capable companion for Île-de-France travel

Bonjour RATP stands out by covering the whole region in one app: routing across metro, RER, bus, tram, Transilien and Optile, live network status with alerts on the lines you care about, tickets and passes held on the phone, and bike-sharing for the final stretch.

I would point it at people who live in or regularly visit Île-de-France and want one app for planning and paying rather than several. Visitors staying long enough to buy a day or week pass will get plenty from it too, as will anyone whose journeys cross between operators.

The limits are the region itself and the setup it rewards. If your travel is confined to Île-de-France, this is a well-established option with a strong rating behind it; the more of its preferences and favorites you configure, the more it behaves like a tool built around your routine.

What's new in version 9.17.0

Your needs are evolving; so is your app! We have made improvements to the accessibility of the application. You can also still purchase and validate your transit tickets with Bonjour RATP and store them on your phone. See you soon on the Bonjour RATP app!