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ARCHIVED - Everything you need to know about new free travel measures in Spain
From September, several Renfe train services across Spain will be completely free
The Spanish Government has announced a series of new measures to counteract the impact of the crisis in Ukraine and rising inflation. One of these is further discounts on public transport, and below we've explained everything you need to know about free travel.
Which services will it affect?
The most important point to note about Sánchez’s measure is that the free travel will only apply to Cercanías, Rodalies and Media Distancia trains – that is, only services operated by Renfe.
These modes of transport were already discounted by 50% thanks to a government initiative introduced last June.
So, free travel will not apply to local metro or bus services operated by the autonomous communities and municipalities, but these services are subject to a minimum 30% discount since June 25 anyway.
Media Distancia, or Medium-Distance, are regional trains that link different cities and towns with their provincial or regional capital. They cover journeys of less than 300 kilometres.
What kinds of tickets will be free?
The free travel will apply to a total of six types of medium-distance multi-trip tickets and the 10-trip Cercanías and Rodalies train pass, which lasts 30 days and can be used by several people.
The six Media Distancia service vouchers that will become free are: Regional 10 Voucher, Simple 10 Card, Free 10 Card, Regional Monthly Pass, Simple 40 Monthly Card and Free 40 Monthly Card.
Unfortunately, single tickets aren’t included in the discount and several other transport vouchers are also ruled out, such as Madrid’s multi-use pass which allows passengers to travel on Metro, Cercanías and EMT buses.
AVE vouchers for Spain’s high-speed trains are also excluded.
How long will free travel be available?
The measures detailed above will begin on September 1 and run until December 31.
It’s still unclear what the government plans to do about passes purchased before the 100% discount comes into play. However, when the other bonuses were introduced last month, passengers who had already bought the more expensive passes were compensated.
Image: Freepik
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