A mini thread about the history of the Paris Métro's two-class travel system. (Yes, there was a first- and second-class Métro and it lasted until – wait for it – 1991.) 1/7

Métro tickets used to be colour-coded: red for first-class, green for second-class. 2/7

Standing on the platform, you could distinguish the first-class from the second-class carriages by their colour (which matched the colour of your ticket). 3/7

Once inside, you could tell if you were in a first- or second-class carriage by the I or II printed everywhere; by the fact that the first-class carriages were – surprise, surprise – far less crowded; and by the material used for the seats (leather for first-class). 4/7

The seats in second-class carriages meanwhile were wooden. Incidentally there are a couple of these currently up for sale online (asking price $4000). 5/7

In 1947 the class system was abolished. But this injection of egalitarianism would prove short-lived, as first- and second-class travel was reinstated the following year. 6/7

From 1982 the class system was relaxed so that the exclusive first-class carriages only functioned from 9am-5pm (i.e. at non-peak times). At all other times, the carriage was open to anyone. Finally in 1991 the whole segregated system was abolished. 7/7